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*  JUL  6  1909   * 


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HN  10  .H4  S3  1909 
Schenck,  Ferdinand 

Schureman,  1845-1925. 
The  sociology  of  the  Bible 


THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/sociologyofbibleOOsche 


THE   SOCIOLOGY 
OF   THE    BIBLE 


y 


By 


FERDINAND  S.  SCHENCK,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


Professor  of  Practical  Theology  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Re- 
formed  Church   in   America 
at  New  Brunswick,  N,  J. 


V 


JUL    6   1909 


THE  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 
of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America 
25  East  Twenty-second  St.,  New  York 


Copyright,  tgog,  by  the 
Board  of  Publication  of  the  Reformed  Church 
IN  America 


By  the  same  author 

Modern  Practical  Theology,  12mo, 
cloth,  340  pp.,  $1.00. 

The  Ten  Commandments  and  The 
Lord's  Prayer,  l2mo,  cloth,  240 
pp.,  $1.00. 

The  Bible  Readers'  Guide,  l2mo, 
cloth,  340  pp.,  $1.25. 

For  sale  by  the 

Board  of  Publication,  R.  C.  A. 

25  East  22d  Street 

New  York 


PREFACE. 

The  lectures  on  Sociology  I  have  been  giving  the  students  of 
our  Theological  Seminary  for  the  past  six  years  have  been  designed 
to  make  them  leaders  of  the  church  in  a  conscious  and  intelligent 
effort  to  better  society.  I  have  tried  to  show  them  how  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  God  as  we  discover  them  both  in  the  social 
life  of  mankind  generally,  and  especially  in  the  social  life  described 
in  the  Bible,  may  be  applied  in  establishing  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
the  highest  ideal  of  society  in  each  community  and  in  the  whole 
earth.  This  book  contains  the  substance  of  these  lectures  wrought 
into  form  for  popular  reading. 

It  is  sometimes  said  "There  is  more  sociology  than  theology 
in  the  Bible."  Many  books  have  been  written  upon  Biblical 
Theology,  treating  the  subject  in  a  great  variety  of  ways.  This  is 
the  first  book,  as  far  as  I  know,  upon  Biblical  Sociology.  Books 
on  Christian  Sociology  are  generally  confined  to  the  teachings  of 
Christ,  or  to  a  description  of  the  Christian  Society  of  today.  In 
this  book  I  try  to  gather  the  most  important  facts  and  principles 
of  the  society  of  the  whole  Bible  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  to 
classify  them  in  a  sociological  way,  and  to  consider  what  light  they 
throw  upon  some  of  the  social  problems  of  today.  The  book  must 
be  in  the  nature  of  an  experiment  both  as  to  the  subject  and  the 
manner  of  its  treatment.  I  must  try  what  seems  to  me  the  most 
attractive  of  the  many  possible  ways  of  studying  the  matter.  I 
make  no  claim  of  its  being  the  best  way;  it  is  only  suggestive. 
Others  may  have  their  attention  awakened  to  this  important  and 
fascinating  field  and  give  it  far  better  treatment  than  I  can  do.  I 
send  forth  the  book  in  the  hope  it  may  have  some  influence  in 
advancing  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

F.  S.  S. 


Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 


Chapter     5. 


Chapter  6. 

Chapter  7. 

Chapter  8. 

Chapter  9. 


CONTENTS. 

PART  I. 

Related  Subjects. 

Page. 

The  New  Science  and  Socialism 7 

Sociology  and  Evolution 14 

Sociology  and  The  Bible 27 

Sociology  of  The  Bible  and  The  Higher  Crit- 
icism      37 

The  Bible,  and  The  Church  as  a  Social  Force  52 

PART  II. 

The  General  Society  of  the  Bible. 

The  Origin  of  Society 57 

Primitive  Society 67 

The  Primary  Classes  in  Early  Society 88 

The  Dispersion  of  the  Race 99 

PART  III. 


The  Kingdom  of  God,  or 
The  Particular  Society  of  the  Bible. 

Chapter  10.     The  Modern  Sociological  Point  of  View....    113 

Chapter  11.     Heredity    129 

Chapter  12.     The  Institution  of  the  Family 152 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  13 
Chapter  14 
Chapter  15 
Chapter  16 
Chapter  17 
Chapter  18 
Chapter  19 
Chapter  20 


Page. 

Environment    175 

The  Land  Laws  of  the  Hebrews 193 

The  Institution  of  Industry 224 

The  Accumulation  and  Distribution  of  Wealth  245 

The  Institution  of  Culture 279 

The  Institution  of  Control 298 

Social    Pathology    320 

The  Ideal  of  Social  Health 352 


PART  IV. 


The  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  World. 


Chapter  21.     Christianity    in    the    Advance   of    Civilization 

from  Ancient  Rome 363 

Chapter  22.     Christianity    in    the    Advance    of    Civilization 

from  our  Barbarian  Ancestors 376 

Chapter  23.  Christianity  a  Social  Force  in  Foreign  Mis- 
sions        382 

Chapter  24.  The  Further  Advance  of  Christian  Civiliza- 
tion       397 

Chapter  25.  The  Christian,  The  Church  and  The  Univer- 
sal Kingdom  of  God 403 


THE     SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

PART  I.     RELATED  SUBJECTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  New  Science  and  Socialism. 

We  are  a  company  of  voyagers  on  a  little  planet  called  the 
Earth,  sailing  with  many  sister  planets  in  the  immensity  of  space. 
However  great  the  value  we  may  place  upon  individuality,  what- 
ever estimate  we  may  have  of  the  grandeur  of  personality,  there  is 
not  a  single  one  of  us  who  would  be  willing  to  make  this  voyage 
entirely  alone.  Whatever  we  may  believe  about  the  life  beyond 
our  present  horizon,  whatever  lofty  hopes  we  may  have  of  personal 
immortality,  there  is  not  a  single  one  of  us  all  who  would  be  will- 
ing to  live  the  eternal  life  entirely  alone.  That  which  was  said 
in  the  opening  pages  of  the  Bible  by  the  great  Creator  of  the  first 
man  is  everlastingly  true,  for  it  describes  the  elementary  nature  of 
man.    "It  is  not  good  that  man  should  be  alone". 

It  is  somewhat  strange  that  in  the  noble  sisterhood  of  the 
Sciences  and  Arts,  those  two  which  so  closely  concern  man's  nature 
and  highest  interests  should  be  of  such  late  birth;  pedagogy,  the 
science  of  the  child  nature,  with  its  art  of  developing  the  noblest 
manhood ;  and  sociology,  the  science  of  man  as  a  social  being,  with 
its  art  of  developing  the  noblest  society.  Science  searches  for  the 
facts  in  any  great  department  of  nature,  contemplates  what  is 
common  to  these  facts,  thus  grouping  them  into  classes,  and  then 
tries  to  discover  the  forces  and  laws  pervading  these  classes.  The 
Science  of  Sociology  searches  for  all  the  facts  of  society;  it  treats 


8  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  the  origin,  nature,  history,  laws,  forces  and  institutions  of 
society.  With  many  sciences  there  can  be  little  if  any  association 
of  art.  Science  is  knowing.  Art  is  doing.  Astronomy  tells  us  of 
the  fleet  of  blazing  suns  floating  with  our  sun  in  the  immensity  of 
space,  but  our  small  hands  cannot  change  their  courses,  and  well  it 
is  we  cannot.  All  we  can  do  is  to  observe  their  places  with  relation 
to  each  other  from  our  earth,  and  so  guide  our  little  ships  across 
earth's  little  seas.  Geology  tells  of  the  history  and  present  condi- 
tion of  the  earth  upon  which  we  are  sailing,  but  we,  with  all  our 
great  powers  can  only  slightly  scratch  its  surface.  In  some  degree 
we  have  harnessed  nature's  forces;  we  have  "hitched  our  wagon  to 
a  star";  still  we  cannot  control  a  thunder  storm,  much  less  a 
volcano  or  an  earthquake.  Biology  tells  of  the  grades  of  life  at  the 
head  of  which  man  stands,  and  over  some  of  these  grades  now 
dwelling  on  the  earth  with  us,  man  may  have  a  large  control. 
Physiology  tells  of  animal  organs  and  functions,  and  man  as  he 
knows  himself  may  better  pursue  the  art  of  living  the  animal  life. 
Psychology  tells  of  sensation  blooming  forth  in  human  conscious- 
ness, and  man  learning  of  the  nature  of  his  mental  powers  may 
advance  in  the  art  of  living  the  mental  life.  Closer  still  man  comes 
to  himself  when  Sociology  tells  of  his  powers  as  a  social  being;  of 
the  wonderful  combining  power  upon  which  the  Creator  relied 
when  he  told  him  "to  replenish  and  subdue  the  earth  and  have 
dominion  over  every  living  thing  upon  it",  and  man  learning  the 
facts  of  this  science  may  advance  in  the  art  of  forming  alliances 
with  his  fellows  for  the  common  good  in  the  art  of  living  the  social 
life. 

So  fully  does  this  science  describe  the  loftiest  nature  of  man 
who  stands  as  the  culmination  of  the  magnificent  progression  of  life 
upon  the  earth,  and  as  the  regnant  power  over  all  lower  creation, 
that  many  of  its  students  claim  that  it  is  the  culminating  and  com- 
bining Science.  Theologj^  will  of  course  contest  this  claim,  holding 
that  all  the  Sciences  lead  up  to  and  contribute  unto  the  source  of 
our  knowledge  of  the  great  Creator  and  upholder  of  nature,  the 
Infinite  and  self-existent  God.  But  if  Theology  be  regarded  as  the 
Queen  of  the  Sciences,  Sociology  may  well  be  called  the  Princess 


SOCIOLOGY  AND   SOCIALISM  9 

Royal,  for  not  only  do  we  know  more  deeply  of  God  from  our  own 
nature  than  from  any  other  source  but  it  is  most  deeply  from  our 
social  nature.  And  also  the  highest  reach  of  our  social  nature  is 
that  we  may  have  fellowship  with  God.  Still  this  noble  science 
concerning  man's  highest  nature  is  the  latest  born  of  all  the 
sciences.  Fifty  years  ago  wise  men  began  to  gather  and  systema- 
tize the  facts  of  society,  to  study  man  as  a  Socius,  and  the  many 
combinations  he  has  formed  with  his  fellows.  Theology  was  old, 
Astronomy  was  gray  when  Sociology  was  born.  In  1883  there 
was  not  a  chair  of  sociology  in  any  University  or  College  in  the 
world.  In  1883  the  first  book  on  Dynamic  Sociology  was  pub- 
lished.    Many  men  now  living  are  older  than  the  science  of  society. 

Though  late  in  birth  it  has  grown  strong  through  the  studies 
of  many  keen  thinkers  and  great  lovers  of  their  kind. 

Since  Sociology  is  so  young  and  perhaps  not  yet  fully  developed 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  it  is  often  popularly  confused  with 
Socialism.  I  have  known  many  well  educated  men,  men  of  wide 
culture,  to  object  to  its  claims  and  pursuit  as  they  thought,  when 
really  their  objections  were  confined  to  the  claims  and  pursuit  of 
Socialism.  It  is  well  to  learn  of  socialism,  as  of  other  things,  from 
its  own  advocates  rather  than  from  those  who  represent  it  only  to 
antagonize  it.  Morris  Hillquit,  a  leader  among  the  Socialists,  in 
his  "History  of  Socialism  in  the  United  States",  gives  a  description 
of  socialism  which  may  be  considered  as  authoritative.  He  says: 
"Socialism  discerns  the  root  of  the  evils  of  modern  civilization  in 
competitive  industr>^  and  wage  labor,  and  advocates  the  re-con- 
struction of  our  entire  economic  system  on  the  basis  of  a  co-opera- 
tive mode  of  production.  It  has  passed  through  many  stages  of 
development  before  it  has  reached  this  modern  aspect". 

Mr.  John  Spargo,  a  good  authority,  says: 

^Socialism  demands  only  the  collective  ownership  of  the  princi- 
pal means  of  production."  I  think  I  give  a  fair  description  of  his 
views  as  follows:  Beneath  competition  is  the  real  object  of  the 
socialistic  attack;  they  call  it  exploitation,  the  oppression  of  man 
by  man,  often  under  the  guise  of  personal  freedom.  Any  employer 
of  his  fellow  men  who  pays  for  their  services  less  than  he  would 


lo  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

have  to  pay  if  he  had  no  state  created  advantage,  or  any  trader 
v^rith  such  advantage  is  an  exploiter.  The  fortunes  such  amass 
are  the  earnings  of  the  industrious  wrongfully  acquired  by  the 
povi^erful. 

The  anarchist  regards  government  and  property  under  govern- 
ment as  the  means  by  which  exploitation  is  accomplished  and  would 
do  away  with  the  whole  system.  The  socialist  regards  competition 
of  natural  and  artificial  persons  as  the  means  of  exploitation  and 
would  substitute  collective  for  private  ownership.  Both  claim 
exploitation  exists.  The  challenge  to  sociology  is — Does  exploita- 
tion exist?  Does  the  social  order  foster  the  economic  and  moral 
enslavement  of  man  by  man?  The  "let  alone"  philosophy  assumes 
that  every  competitor  receives  the  exact  equivalent  of  what  he 
produces,  or  if  he  does  not  it  is  his  own  fault;  that  society  cannot 
remedy  it.  But  the  answer  of  socialism  is  prompt.  Society  is 
wonderfully  complex.  In  a  community  made  up  of  strictly  natural 
individuals  with  unlimited  natural  opportunities,  competition  might 
be  let  alone.  But  society  has  clothed  some  of  these  natural  persons 
with  artificial  privileges  and  powers.  Society  has  also  created 
purely  artificial  persons,  the  corporations,  and  society  has  also 
clothed  these  artificial  persons  with  artificial  privileges  and  powers 
of  such  immense  value  that  their  exploitation  of  their  employees, 
their  customers  and  the  people  generally  cannot  be  estimated. 
Society  has  given  to  a  few,  has  taken  away  from  the  many  the 
earth  itself  with  its  unlimited  resources,  public  utilities  of  its  own 
creation,  and  the  exclusive  right  to  use  great  inventions;  and  thus 
allows  the  few  to  exploit  the  many,  still  further  reducing  them  to 
a  state  not  to  be  distinguished  from  slaver}'.  This  has  come  about 
gradually  by  allowing  the  competition  principle,  suitable  perhaps 
to  a  simple  state  of  societ)^,  to  grow  without  check  or  hindrance 
in  a  complex  and  crowded  society  to  which  it  is  utterly  unsuited. 
Socialism  claims  that  some  things  can  be  done  by  natural  indi- 
viduals without  state  aid  or  authority.  Other  things  can  be  done 
only  by  combinations  of  individuals  without  special  state  given 
powers.  Other  things  can  be  done  best  by  the  State  alone.  Should 
not  complex  society  have  complex  ways  of  treating  its  problems? 


SOCIOLOGY  AND  SOCIALISM  ii 

Public  exploitation  is  largely  the  purchase  of  Legislative  favors 
and  comes  from  competition  of  seeking  and  maintaining  franchises ; 
and  can  only  be  cured  by  public  ownership  and  conduct  of  all 
public  utilities.  Private  exploitation  is  the  gain  made  by  mis- 
representing, extorting,  cheating  and  swindling  in  the  ordinary 
process  of  industry  and  commerce.  It  is  not  often  illegal,  as  the 
law  cannot  keep  up  with  the  increasing  craftiness  of  men  compelled 
to  compete  for  the  means  of  life.  The  ramifications  of  private 
robbery  extend  through  all  business.  What  is  robbery  to  the  vic- 
tim is  usually  "legitimate  business"  to  the  beneficiary.  It  reveals 
itself  in  adulterating  food,  drink  and  medicine,  especially  for  the 
poor  compelled  to  buy  the  cheaper  articles.  The  extent  of  such 
exploitations  in  making  and  selling  commodities  is  great.  The 
incentive  of  gain  is  in  the  individualist  competitive  mode  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution,  making  things  to  sell  for  individual  profit. 
Socialism  says  the  only  cure  is  merging  all  such  things  in  a  common 
interest,  and  society  in  its  organized  form  must  take  to  itself  the 
production  and  distribution  of  commodities  not  for  sale  but  for  use, 
without  any  individual  profit.  James  Mackaye  says  Socialism  is 
not  opposed  to  the  Institution  of  property  but  that  it  is  opposed  to 
the  Institution  of  profit — and  he  includes  interest  on  money — 
dividends  and  rent  under  the  term  profit.  Profit  seeking  is  the 
root  of  all  economic  evil.  The  remedy  of  socialism  is  simply  to 
abolish  individual  or  corporate  ownership  of  capital  and  substitute 
for  it  public  collective  ownership.  Under  public  ownership  indus- 
try will  be  carried  on  not  for  profit  but  for  use — as  the  post  office 
is  to-day. 

It  is  seen  at  once  from  these  short  descriptions  by  its  leaders  that 
socialism  is  simply  a  theory  of  how  society  ought  to  be  arranged. 
Sociology  on  the  other  hand  describes  all  the  facts,  laws  and  forces 
of  society.  Socialism  is  however  a  challenge  to  sociology  as  a 
theorjf  in  any  depaFtment  of  nature  is  a  challenge  to  the  science  of 
that  department,  as  the  theory  for  example  that  the  earth  is  the 
center  of  the  universe,  is  a  challenge  to  astronomy.  Socialism 
claims  that  the  present  social  order  is  a  vast  injustice  productive  of 
great  evils  and  that  it  is  wrongly  maintained  by  powerful  class 


t 


12  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

interests.  If  the  evils  do  not  exist  the  charge  must  be  refuted ;  if 
they  do  exist  it  must  be  shown  that  other  causes  produce  them. 
Earnest  and  enthusiastic  lovers  of  mankind  with  insufficient  obser- 
vation ma}^  distort  and  magnify  a  class  of  facts  to  the  discarding  of 
all  others,  and  may  attribute  their  existence  to  an  apparent  cause, 
while  ignoring  many  constant  forces  bearing  in  their  direction. 
On  the  other  hand  clear  eyed  science  calmly  views  all  the  facts  in 
their  proper  relations,  and  places  due  value  upon  all  the  forces 
bearing  on  the  situation ;  it  does  not  quarrel  with  facts  or  forces 
but  tries  to  discover  their  meaning.  The  remedy  suggested  by  the 
enthusiasts  may  be  destructive  of  the  good  with  the  evil,  while 
that  suggested  by  science  is  the  growth  of  the  good  to  the  dwarfing 
of  the  evil.  So  instead  of  sociology  being  the  same  as  socialism,  or 
in  any  way  responsible  for  it,  it  may  be  said  that  it  affords  the  only 
complete  answer  to  it,  and  remedy  for  it. 

Socialism  in  its  many  theories  has  had  a  rapid  growth  and  has 
attained  great  power,  it  has  many  earnest  and  able  advocates,  and 
many  able  papers  and  books  are  published  setting  forth  its  views 
and  claims.  It  has  also  entered  into  the  political  arena.  There 
is  a  large  Socialistic  party  in  the  German  Reichstag,  there  is  the 
beginning  of  such  a  party  in  the  British  Parliament,  and  the  threat- 
ened Revolution  in  Russia  is  not  only  political  but  social,  aiming 
specially  at  a  new  distribution  of  the  land.  In  our  own  country 
there  is  a  Socialist  Party  which  cast  in  the  Presidential  Election  in 
1900  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  votes,  in  that  of  1904,  four 
hundred  thousand  votes,  and  in  that  of  1908  over  four  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  votes.  At  first  this  party  antagonized  the  Labor 
Unions,  but  recently  it  has  sought  to  win  their  votes.  In  1900  and 
again  in  1902  in  the  National  Convention  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  resolutions  looking  to  socialist  political  action  were 
emphatically  rejected ;  and  as  far  as  I  can  learn  Labor  Unions  still 
stand  as  a  barrier  to  the  spread  of  socialism  in  our  land  today. 
The  Socialist  vote  in  the  world  is  now  reckoned  as  about  eight 
millions.  The  International  Congress  of  Socialists  in  1907  repre- 
sented its  highest  and  rapidly  growing  strength.  The  people  of  this 
country  as  well  as  the  people  of  Continental  Europe  are  facing 


SOCIOLOGY  AND  SOCIALISM  13 

fundamental  questions,  those  underlying  the  existing  social  order 
itself,  the  underlying  S3'Stem  of  human  forces  and  relations  forming 
the  State,  as  distinguished  from  the  particular  form  of  Government 
of  that  State.  The  rapid  growth  and  increasing  power  of  Socialism 
show  that  it  must  be  adequately  answered  and  satisfactorily  met  in 
its  demands,  lest  it  grow  strong  enough  to  force  its  theory  into 
practice  to  the  great  danger  of  the  institutions  of  society.  That  it 
may  be  so  met  and  checked  depends  verj^  largely  upon  sociology. 
Socialists  frequently  claim  that  the  Bible,  especially  the  teachings  of 
Christ  and  the  practice  of  the  early  Christians,  favor  their  theory 
of  society.  A  careful  study  of  the  Sociology  of  the  Bible  can  of 
course  give  the  only  possible  answer  to  such  a  claim. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Sociology  and  Evolution. 

If  it  be  asked  what  part  the  principle  of  evolution  has  in  sociol- 
ogy a  judicious  answer  would  be,  "the  same  part  it  has  in  all  the 
other  sciences."  The  sciences  generally  accept  evolution  in  some 
form,  and  to  some  degree  not  as  explaining  origins  but  as  governing 
modifications,  but  the  form  is  not  yet  fully  agreed  upon  nor  there- 
fore can  the  degree  be  always  defined.  We  need  not  fear  that  na- 
ture will  ever  overthrow  revelation, — if  they  both  come  from  the 
same  God  they  must  sustain  each  other.  If  the  time  ever  comes 
when  evolution  is  fully  defined  and  it  is  seen  to  apply  to  all  depart- 
ments of  nature,  the  religion  based  upon  revelation  will  have  no 
more  cause  to  distrust  it  than  it  now  has  to  distrust  the  attraction 
of  gravitation.  Until  that  time  comes  we  should  try  to  learn  what 
evolution  is  as  held  by  its  ablest  advocates.  It  is  foolish  to  imagine 
what  it  is,  and  then  bravely  overthrow  it,  it  is  always  an  easy  task 
to  construct  a  man  of  straw  and  then  knock  it  over,  but  a  man  only 
awakens  ridicule  for  himself  and  his  cause  by  such  a  contest.  Her- 
bert Spencer  is  a  leading  advocate  of  evolution  and  he  has  with 
great  pains  constructed  a  definition  of  it  which  is  not  difficult  to 
comprehend  and  which  as  a  whole  is  most  too  substantial  to  attack 
rashly,  though  one  may  not  adopt  all  its  applications. 

The  formula  he  gives  in  his  first  book  of  The  Synthetic  Philoso- 
phy— "The  First  Principles"  is  as  follows:  "Evolution  is  an  in- 
tegration of  matter  with  a  concomitant  dissipation  of  motion,  dur- 
ing which  the  matter  progresses  from  an  indefinite,  incoherent, 
homogeneity  to  a  definite,  coherent  heterogeneity,  and  during  which 
the  retained   motion  undergoes  a  parallel   transformation".     He 


SOCIOLOGY   AND   EVOLUTION  15 

bases  this  upon  his  great  generalizations,  the  indestructibility  of 
matter,  the  persistence  of  force,  the  continuity,  direction  and 
rhythm  of  motion,  and  he  traces  it  through  all  the  astronomic, 
geologic,  biologic,  psychologic  and  sociologic  stages  from  the  star 
dust  forming  the  first  nebula  to  the  highest  stage  of  society  reached 
by  the  most  enlightened  civilization.  The  star  dust  of  the  nebula 
from  which  arose  the  present  solar  system  filled  a  space  much 
larger  than  that  filled  now  by  the  sun  and  its  planets.  This  glow- 
ing gas  in  a  process  of  condensation  was  in  a  swirl  of  motion.  It 
was  homogeneous,  indefinite,  incoherent.  As  the  integration  of 
matter  progressed  some  motion  became  dissipated  in  space,  it  slowed 
up  and  narrowed  in  its  limits.  Section  after  section  of  the  gas 
separated  from  the  mass  became  more  definite,  coherent,  hetero- 
geneous, at  length  a  planet,  while  the  remaining  mass  through  the 
same  process  became  our  sun.  So  also  we  read  the  plan  in  the 
geologic  stages  of  the  earth's  history.  The  same  process  can  be 
traced  through  zoology,  from  the  lowest  form  of  life,  something 
like  the  present  jelly  fish,  an  indefinite,  incoherent,  homogeneous 
mass  to  the  fish,  with  head,  eyes,  backbone,  fins,  tail,  a  definite, 
coherent,  heterogeneous  animal.  So  also  the  plan  is  seen  in  the 
psychologic  stage  of  life. 

The  same  process  can  be  traced  through  sociology,  from  the 
savage  or  barbarian  tribe,  where  all  hunt  and  fish  and  fight,  an 
indefinite,  incoherent,  homogeneous  mass  to  the  modern  city  with 
legislative,  executive  and  judicial  departments,  with  its  merchants, 
lawyers,  teachers,  ministers,  a  definite,  coherent,  heterogeneous 
society.  It  is  a  wonderful  generalization  coming  from  the  mind  of 
Spencer.  But  so  far  as  it  is  true  he  did  not  originate  it,  he  dis- 
covered it.  He  did  not  form  the  plan  running  through  creation 
any  more  than  Newton  made  the  attraction  of  gravitation.  New- 
ton discovered  the  law  of  gravitation  and  formulated  it.  "Every 
body  of  matter  attracts  every  other  body  with  a  force  that  varies 
directly  as  the  product  of  the  masses  of  the  two  bodies  under  con- 
sideration, and  inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance  between 
them".  This  rules  in  the  farthest  star  and  in  the  particle  of  dust 
that  floats  in  the  summer  air. 


i6  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Newton  did  not  make  the  rule;  but  he  is  to  be  credited  with 
discovering  it.  So  with  evolution  and  this  great  formulation  of 
its  law.  Herbert  Spencer  did  not  make  the  rule,  but  he  is  to  be 
credited  with  discovering  it.  Both  gravitation  and  evolution  do 
not  put  God  out  of  his  Universe  but  show  how  He  acts  in  and 
upon  it.  Rightly  considered,  as  far  as  investigation  goes  and  finds 
evolution  rule  in  the  history  and  present  condition  of  the  universe 
it  becomes  one  of  the  strongest  conceivable  evidences  of  the  exist- 
ence of  God.  It  also  shows  His  wisdom  in  forming  and  carrying 
out  the  wonderful  far  reaching  plan,  and  His  goodness  also  since 
the  plan  steadily  makes  for  progress.  Still  even  this  widest  con- 
ceivable evolution  does  not  account  for  the  existence  of  the  homo- 
geneous atoms  and  of  the  all  pervasive  force  in  the  beginning  from 
which  the  present  universe  has  been  developed. 

All  Spencer's  great  generalizations  run  far  back  and  terminate 
in  the  absolute,  of  which  he  reverently  claims  he  can  affirm  nothing. 
Concerning  life,  evolution  traces  the  series  of  steps  by  which  the 
great  variety  of  forms  of  life  have  arisen  through  many  stages  from 
a  single,  simple  or  rudimentary  form.  Even  if  this  sprung  from  the 
original  atoms  and  forces,  and  the  evidence  is  far  from  conclusive, 
it  is  so  traced  back  to  the  absolute.  Thus  the  plan  which  Spencer 
describes  with  so  much  fulness  leads  the  mind  contemplating  its 
wondrous  unfolding  back  to  the  absolute,  with  the  conclusion  that 
the  plan  which  can  be  watched  and  read  with  admiration  by  our 
finite  intelligence  must  have  been  formed  and  carried  out  and 
watched  over  by  an  intelligence  far  greater  than  ours.  Of  the 
mechanical  instantaneous  making  of  things  there  is  little  evidence 
either  in  nature  or  the  Bible,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  for  us  to 
conceive  of  it.  Still  Paley's  watch  illustration  as  it  calls  for  a 
maker  need  not  be  set  aside,  only  it  requires  a  more  wonderful 
maker.  Evolution  says  God  made  the  eye  not  mechanically,  he 
implanted  life  in  lowest  form,  it  unfolded  power  in  adapting 
itself  to  its  surroundings,  at  length  it  became  sensitive  to  light, 
after  long  ages  its  unfolding  power  became  the  eye,  this  long  pro- 
cess of  development  only  forms  a  more  wonderful  eye  by  a  more 
wonderful  maker.    We  can  easily  see  with  the  mind's  eye  however 


SOCIOLOGY   AND   EVOLUTION  17 

the  point  of  Spencer's  comment  on  Paley's  watch,  that  however 
wonderful  the  watch  as  a  time  piece  it  could  not  be  expected  to 
form  an  adequate  conception  of  man,  its  maker.  We  should  be 
humble  and  reverential;  we  should  not  claim  to  know  all  about 
God;  but  the  mind  is  developed  to  know,  and  even  when  it  faces 
the  absolute  it  must  exert  its  power.  We  need  not  fear  that  the 
race  of  mankind  will  ever  become  agnostics;  that  is  not,  and  never 
will  be  the  ideal,  the  far  ofif  goal  to  which  our  intelligence  is  mov- 
ing. 

Neither  need  we  conclude  that  all  evolutionists  are  materialists. 
There  are  materialistic  evolutionists,  it  is  simply  the  materialistic 
philosophy  adopting  the  evolution  theory  as  a  working  hypothesis. 
Materialism  holds  that  matter  is  the  only  existence,  that  mind  is 
only  refined  matter.  It  runs  counter  to  much  in  nature.  The 
materialistic  evolution  meets  with  great  chasms  in  the  history  of 
nature.  It  strives  to  account  for  vegetable  life  as  coming  from  the 
mineral  kingdom,  but  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  the 
material  crystal  and  the  living  cell.  It  strives  to  account  for  the 
sentient  life  as  coming  from  the  vegetable  cell,  but  here  also  it 
cannot  account  for  the  dififering  life  in  the  cells.  The  materialistic 
philosophy  adopting  evolution  thus  runs  counter  with  nature, 
because  the  evolution  in  nature  is  not  materialistic.  The  evolution 
may  be  accepted,  but  the  philosophy  must  be  rejected. 

There  are  also  theistic  and  Christian  evolutionists.  The  theist 
regards  God  as  transcendent  above  nature,  and  that  He  is  also 
immanent  in  nature.  He  is  the  plan  and  the  working  force,  and 
nature  unfolds  according  to  His  unalterable  law.  The  Christian 
is  a  theist  but  he  also  holds  that  the  transcendent  and  immanent 
God  implants  new  forces  in  nature  as  needed;  that  His  own 
immanence  at  any  particular  time  in  nature  is  not  the  full  measure 
of  His  being.  He  is  infinite  in  His  being,  the  Absolute.  His 
immanence  must  always  be  limited  by  the  nature  of  the  thing  or 
the  person  in  whom  He  is  immanent.  He  was  immanent  in  what 
we  call  dead  matter  and  its  unfolding  forces  and  laws  through 
countless  ages.  There  came  a  time  when  he  implanted  life  in 
matter  prepared  for  it;    He  was  then  immanent  in  nature  to  a 


i8  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

larger  degree.  There  then  came  a  time  when  he  implanted  a 
higher  life,  a  life  in  his  own  likeness,  in  the  life  prepared  for  it. 
He  was  then  immanent  in  nature  in  a  still  higher  degree.  His 
coming  into  this  higher  life  in  the  person  of  His  Son,  Jesus 
Christ,  is  a  still  higher  degree  of  His  immanence,  but  we  cannot 
conclude  that  even  this  is  the  full  measure  of  His  being.  The 
Christian  is  humble  and  reverent,  he  does  not  claim  either  that 
he  knows,  or  ever  can  know  all  about  God.  He  believes  in  God 
over  all.  He  believes  also  in  God  in  all,  in  the  earth,  in  man, 
and  in  the  Bible,  but  in  all  in  such  a  way  that  He  is  still  over 
all,  His  personality  not  confused  with  or  dependent  upon  His 
works.  He  is  also  seeking  to  know  of  God  through  nature  and  he 
honors  and  follows  science  in  her  untiring  search  for  truth. 
Agassiz  said:  "Science  is  the  interpretation  of  the  thoughts  of 
the  Creator".  Kepler  explained  devoutly:  "O  God  I  think  Thy 
thoughts  after  Thee".  So  the  reverent  christian  follows  evolu- 
tion in  an  earnest  seeking  to  discover  and  define  the  unfolding  of 
God's  plan  in  Creation,  in  Providence  and  in  Redemption. 

While  Spencer  in  his  Synthetic  Philosophy  tries  to  trace  evo- 
lution through  all  nature,  thus  binding  all  the  sciences  together, 
by  this  all  pervading  theory,  each  science  in  its  treatment  of  its 
own  department  of  nature  makes  only  such  adoption  of  the 
theory  as  it  finds  in  that  department.  Both  in  the  general  and 
in  the  particular  evolution  is  powerless  to  account  for  origins,  it 
only  tries  to  explain  modifications  of  the  original  atom  or 
cell  in  its  climbing  the  stairs  of  being.  Evolution  does  not  account 
for  the  origin  of  life  any  more  than  it  does  for  the  origin  of  the 
atom  or  the  electron.  Huxley  and  Tyndall  and  the  scientists  of 
their  day  sought  but  could  not  discover  spontaneous  generation, 
whenever  they  seemed  to  come  near  the  discovery  they  only  found 
they  had  not  succeeded  in  keeping  out  some  living  cell.  There  is 
a  theory  held  by  some  today,  that  nature  under  favorable  condi- 
tions evolves  a  living  cell  from  dead  matter  just  as  she  evolves  a 
crystal  from  lower  forms  of  matter,  that  the  mineral  kingdom 
under  the  conditions  of  warmth  and  moisture  will  evolve  the  veg- 
etable and  animal  kingdoms.    But  this  is  only  a  theory,  no  one  has 


SOCIOLOGY   AND    EVOLUTION  19 

ever  had  evidences  of  its  workings,  or  seen  it  w^orking  or  been  able 
to  arrange  the  conditions  for  its  vv^orking.  Imagination  can  see 
the  atom,  even  the  electron,  it  finds  it  easy  to  see  the  favorable 
conditions,  the  moist  hot  weather,  but  the  average  imagination 
cannot  see  the  cell  in  the  act  of  forming.  Nature  more  than  inti- 
mates, it  asserts  that  life  is  the  greater  immanence  of  God,  the 
touch  of  the  great  Life  Giver.  The  Biologist  assumes  the  exist- 
ence of  the  living  cell  before  he  begins  to  trace  the  evolutionary 
process.  He  may  see  a  great  likeness  between  the  crystal  and 
the  cell  but  he  never  confuses  them  in  evolution;  the  trouble 
with  the  crystal  is  that  it  will  not  evolve  in  his  line.  He  is 
forced  to  admit  even  that  the  living  cell,  his  unit  of  origin,  is 
as  far  removed  from  the  inorganic  crystal,  as  is  the  highest  ani- 
mal organism  at  the  top  of  the  stairs,  in  that  it  is  alive. 

There  seems  to  be  no  evolution  of  life  from  dead  matter  but 
there  seems  a  marvelous  evolution  in  the  life  when  once  im- 
planted by  the  great  Life  Giver. 

Evolution  in  life  is  based  upon  four  great  classes  of  facts. 
The  first  is  the  prodigality  of  nature  in  the  reproduction  of  life, 
especially  in  the  lower  grades.  These  lower  forms  of  life  pass 
quickly  through  the  stages  of  their  being  and  out  of  existence. 
They  seem  to  serve  very  largely  as  food  for  the  higher  grades, 
but  evidently  this  is  not  all  the  meaning  there  is  in  their  living, 
it  is  but  the  incident  of  their  passing  out  of  it.  The  Great  Life 
Giver  is  evidently  a  lover  of  life.  He  has  given  the  joy  of  liv- 
ing to  the  greatest  possible  number  of  beings  by  making  the  lower 
grades  prolific  and  short  lived.  The  quickly  succeeding  genera- 
tions of  vast  numbers  of  beings  make  a  great  sum  of  happiness 
of  these  lower  orders;  they  have  no  dread  of  death  and  death 
itself  is  painless  to  them.  As  the  rise  is  made  through  the  many 
grades  of  living  beings,  the  prodigality  in  reproduction  diminishes 
and  the  length  of  life  for  each  generation  increases,  and  there 
is  a  growing  tendency  to  have  life  become  more  full  and  rich 
in  the  individuals  of  each  grade.  Herein  also  is  the  greatest  sum 
of  happiness,  not  now  in  large  numbers  of  the  lower  order, 
quickly  passing,  but  in  the  many  sided  life  lingering  on  the  stage 


20  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  existence.  The  quantity  of  happiness  in  the  lowest  orders 
slowly  gives  place  through  countless  orders  of  being  to  the  quality 
of  happiness  in  the  highest  orders  of  life. 

The  second  class  of  facts  upon  which  evolution  is  based  is  cov- 
ered by  the  power  in  life  of  adapting  itself  to  its  surroundings,  it  is 
found  in  low  degree  in  the  lowest  orders,  it  increases  in  the 
ascending  scale  of  being  and  becomes  marvelously  varied  and  strong 
in  the  highest  orders.  In  all  the  orders  some  individuals  have  this 
power  slightly  above  the  average,  and  some  slightly  below  it,  some 
are  more  successful  than  the  average  in  adapting  themselves  to  their 
environment  and  some  are  less  so.  From  this  there  arises  in  every 
order  that  condition  covered  by  the  now  far  famed  expressions  "the 
struggle  for  existence"  and  "the  survival  of  the  fittest".  This 
power  of  adaptation  is  itself  cultivated  by  exercise,  and  becomes 
strong  in  each  order  of  being;  and  it  is  claimed  it  may  become  so 
strong  in  an  individual  case  as  to  lift  it  above  its  own  order  and 
make  it  become  the  founder  of  a  new  order.  The  Great  Life 
Giver  has  not  only  provided  in  the  prodigality  of  life  for  the  great- 
est amount  of  the  happiness  of  living,  but  in  the  power  of  adapta- 
tion He  has  secured  the  preservation  of  the  strongest  life,  and  its 
advance  in  the  order  of  being. 

The  third  great  class  of  facts  upon  which  evolution  is  based  is 
that  of  inheritance.  No  two  individuals  of  any  order  are  exactly 
alike,  there  is  wide  variation  within  the  limits  of  the  order  or 
species,  and  the  law  of  inheritance  of  likeness  is  crossed  by  the  law 
of  variation.  In  the  power  of  adaptation  the  strongest  individual 
not  only  secures  the  long  and  full  life  for  himself  but  by  the  law 
of  inheritance  is  apt  to  transmit  his  attainments  to  his  descendants. 
This  however  may  be  checked  by  the  law  of  variation  of  the  other 
parent.  It  however  may  also  be  fostered  if  the  other  parent  be  one 
of  the  strong.  By  a  long  process  of  selection  through  many  gener- 
ations varied  by  possible  checks  and  helps,  a  slight  variation  is  pre- 
served and  made  constant  until  a  higher  form  or  order  of  life  is 
reached,  and  a  new  species  is  evolved  from  an  old.  There  is  also 
the  possibility  of  freaks  or  sports  and  their  preservation  by  inherit- 
ance. 


SOCIOLOGY   AND   EVOLUTION  21 

The  fourth  class  of  facts  is  the  growing  power  of  living  for 
others  in  the  upper  ranks  or  life,  this  is  found  to  some  extent  in  the 
bird  life,  and  becomes  especially  strong  in  mammalian  life.  The 
chief  concern  of  life  in  lower  forms  is  to  multiply,  to  ruthlessly  cast 
aside  its  failures  or  have  them  for  food  for  its  successes,  careless  of 
everything  but  its  survival.  But  mere  multiplication  does  not  give 
the  greatest  amount  of  life.  Life  must  be  enriched  if  there  is  to 
be  not  merely  more  life  but  fuller  life;  more  in  quantit}^  not  only 
but  more  in  quality.  This  life  in  its  higher  forms  has  the  principle 
of  living  for  others  in  its  nature. 

The  Great  Life  Giver  has  provided  in  the  ceaseless  and  inevit- 
able principles  and  laws  of  life,  in  its  prolificness,  its  power  of  adap- 
tation, its  laws  of  inheritance  and  its  premium  to  love,  for  its  cease- 
less and  inevitable  progress.  Nature's  purpose  is  abundance  of  life. 
God's  command,  "Be  fruitful  and  multiply"  states  the  cardinal 
principle  of  life.  Still  this  includes  not  only  more  life  but  fuller 
life.  Abundance  of  life  includes  multiplication  of  lower  forms  and 
rising  forms  in  which  more  and  higher  life  is  crowded.  Matthew 
Arnold  said:  "Religion  is  morality  touched  by  evolution"  and 
"there  is  a  power  not  ourselves  that  makes  for  righteousness".  This 
morality  and  this  righteousness  that  contain  the  principle  of  living 
for  others  culminate  in  man,  but  their  rudiments  are  found  all 
along  in  the  ascending  scale  of  life.  The  higher  class  of  life  is 
called  mammalian,  and  includes  man.  Whenever  the  breast  is 
found  it  adds  nothing  to  its  owner  in  itself,  it  rather  is  an  encum- 
brance and  frequently  a  danger.  Its  use  is  entirely  and  only  for 
others,  and  in  that  use  it  undoubtedly  brings  happiness,  perhaps  the 
highest  physical  happiness  of  which  its  owner  is  capable.  Natural 
selection  so  selects  morality  in  the  demand  for  fulness  of  life.  The 
struggle  for  life  contains  in  itself  the  principle  of  the  struggle  for 
the  life  of  others,  until  we  come  to  man  not  one  solitary  specimen 
of  whom  has  ever  lived  seven  days  without  the  aid  of  this  mam- 
malian morality,  or  some  miserable  substitute  for  it.  The  premium 
of  full  life  is  given  in  nature  to  love,  or  to  living  for  others. 
Natural  selection  in  seeking  fulness  of  life  more  and  more  as 
advances  is  made,   demands  love  or  morality  of  life.      Man   is 


22  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  product  of  morality.  The  facts  of  infancy  proclaim  "no 
morals  no  man."  Morality  and  righteousness  as  Arnold  claims 
are  in  the  very  nature  of  man. 

The  Biologist  thus  traces  the  evolutionary  process  through 
all  the  grades  of  life.  But  he  is  dependent  upon  the  Great  Life 
Giver  for  the  implanting  of  the  first  living  cell,  and  at  every 
step  of  the  ascending  way  he  is  equally  dependent  upon  the  un- 
folding power  of  the  God  given  and  God  enfolding  life  accord- 
ing to  God  enacted  and  God  enforced  laws,  he  is  with  Kepler 
"thinking  God's  thoughts  after  Him." 

God  does  not  say  in  the  Bible  how  he  made  man.  If  the 
Biologist  shows  that  He  made  him  by  a  process  of  evolution 
from  protoplasm,  it  will  still  be  true  that  God  made  him,  a 
wonderful  being  in  a  most  wonderful  way,  by  a  wonderful  plan 
unfolding  through  countless  ages  until  it  culminates  in  man. 
Even  then  it  would  seem  that  man  is  not  fully  accounted  for, 
he  is  not  only  from  "the  dust  of  the  earth,"  but  in  "the  likeness 
of  God."  This  spiritual  likeness  indicates  that  the  transcendent 
and  immanent  God  implanted  a  higher  life  in  the  highest  order 
of  the  life  evolved  from  the  first  living  cell ;  that  evolution  had 
reached  its  loftiest  attainment  and  could  go  no  farther;  and  that 
then  God  added  His  own  likeness  to  the  evolved  man.  This 
evolved  man  was  the  highest  of  the  animals  and  shared  with 
them  their  attainment  of  mental  quality,  and  even  social  nature, 
but  lacked  those  qualities  which  lift  man  above  the  animals  and 
ally  him  with  God.  One  of  the  main  characteristics  of  this 
added  higher  life,  "in  His  likeness" — is  its  power  of  evolution 
to  ever  higher  degrees  of  mental  and  even  social  nature,  of  moral 
and  religious  nature,  until  one  can  set  no  limits  to  what  man 
may  become.  It  is  upon  this  added  life,  "in  His  likeness"  that 
the  nature  of  man  as  a  Socius  is  most  largely  based.  While 
biology  claims  generally  that  man  has  been  evolved  from  the 
lowest  animal  life,  it  cannot  be  said  that  its  claim  is  fully  proved, 
still  should  it  ever  be  completely  established  it  will  be  simply  the 
description  of  God's  method  in  the  creation  of  man. 

In    biology    the   magnificent   procession    of    life   culminates    in 


SOCIOLOGY   AND   EVOLUTION  2S 

man.  Sociology  begins  with  man.  Every  science  has  its  unit 
of  investigation.  The  Socius  is  the  unit  of  the  social  group. 
Society  in  its  simplest  form  exists  v^^herever  a  Socius  has  a  com- 
panion. Sociology  does  not  explain  origins,  it  starts  with  its 
living  cell,  the  Socius.  The  characteristic  of  the  Socius  is  the 
social  nature.  This  has  some  features  which  are  akin  to  the 
social  nature  of  animals  and  so  far  may  have  developed  from 
the  purely  animal  nature.  Still  the  social  ties  of  animals  and  of 
man  with  animals,  especially  with  domestic  animals,  are  so  in- 
ferior that  they  largely  differ  in  kind.  The  means  of  com- 
munication are  so  inadequate  that  the  social  life  using  and  de- 
pending upon  them  is  of  the  lowest  conceivable  order.  The  social 
nature  consists  mainly  of  the  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual 
elements,  "the  Likeness  of  God."  If  God's  method  of  creating 
and  developing  is  evolution  in  the  lower  orders  of  life,  it  is  not 
likely  that  He  will  change  it  in  this  higher  sphere. 

It  is  one  of  the  main  evidences  of  evolution  that  it  seems  to 
run  with  equal  svray  in  the  development  of  the  social  nature  of 
man  and  of  society.  The  laws  of  Evolution  in  life  generally, 
have  full  sway  in  the  life  of  man.  The  first  law,  that  of  prolific 
life,  is  seen  in  the  full  and  many  sided  life  of  the  individual,  and 
in  the  great  love  and  care  of  parents  for  children,  and  of  one 
generation  for  the  next.  The  second  law,  that  of  adaptation  is 
seen  in  the  ceaseless  and  inevitable  struggle  and  competition.  The 
conflict  waged  from  the  beginning  in  all  orders  of  life  has  not 
been  suspended  in  the  case  of  man,  he  is  as  powerless  to  escape 
from  it  as  is  the  lowest  organism;  but  the  beneficence  of  the  law 
is  seen  in  that  here  too  the  result  is  ceaseless  and  inevitable  pro- 
gress. The  progress  is  in  the  nature  of  selection,  those  best 
adapted  to  the  condition  of  life  in  any  land  or  age  survive,  and 
have  descendants,  and  the  race  advances. 

The  third  law  is  equally  manifest,  that  of  heredity  within  the 
limits  of  kind.  The  fourth  law,  that  of  living  for  others,  finds 
its  highest  manifestation  in  man. 

Three  important  elements,  traces  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the 
lower  orders,  come  into  prominence  in  man   and  have  large  in- 


24  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

fluence  in  the  adaptation  of  life  to  circumstances;  they  are  rea- 
son, combined  action  and  afifection.  Reason  profits  by  the  experi- 
ence of  past  generations,  takes  a  wide  view  of  present  condi- 
tions and  forms  an  opinion  of  the  probable  future,  and  from 
many  available  forces  selects  those  best  adapted  to  produce  de- 
sired results.  The  power  of  combined  action,  man's  capacity  to 
act  in  concert  with  his  fellows  in  organized  society,  increases 
the  value  of  individual  reason  and  enables  man  to  rise  out  of 
competition  with  animal  life  into  its  mastery,  as  well  as  into 
mastery  of  many  forces  of  nature,  so  man  not  merely  adapts  him- 
self to  his  surroundings,  but  to  a  large  extent  he  changes  his 
environment  to  meet  his  needs.  The  element  of  afiection  is 
found  to  some  extent  in  the  higher  orders  of  animal  life,  and 
wherever  found  it  endows  life  with  power.  Birds  and  even 
tigers  risk  life  out  of  afifection  for  their  young,  and  so  preserve 
life;  it  is  a  large  element  in  the  preservation  of  their  species. 
Nature  in  the  struggle  for  existence  develops  love,  she  offers  the 
premium  of  continued  existence  to  sympathy  and  helpfulness. 
Man  has  in  still  larger  and  purer  degree  the  love  of  his  young, 
and  he  has  the  capacity  of  love  for  his  kind,  he  may  develop  love 
for  his  tribe,  for  his  nation,  even  love  for  humanity.  Man  with 
his  reason  may  consciously  choose  and  foster  love  for  a  few,  or 
for  the  many  or  for  the  whole  humanity  as  the  controlling  force 
in  his  individual  action.  He  may  make  it  the  controlling  force 
in  his  combined  action  with  a  large  company  of  kindred  spirits, 
an  awakened  enthusiasm  for  humanity. 

These  three  elements  may  largely  modify  the  law  of  compe- 
tition, or  rather  may  lift  it  to  a  higher  plane  for  the  combined 
good.  If  all  the  individuals  of  a  generation  could  reason  upon 
a  plan  for  the  progress  of  the  race  their  present  interest  in  the 
struggle  for  existence  and  enjoyment  of  it,  would  in  many  in- 
stances probably  over  master  the  three  combined  elements;  but 
the  majority  adhering  to  the  chosen  plan  would  restrain  and 
master  the  revolting  individuals.  For  instance  we  are  cutting; 
less  timber  and  burning  less  wood  now  because  we  have  con- 
cluded that  forests  should  be  preserved  to  secure  timber  and  rain 


SOCIOLOGY   AND    EVOLUTION  25 

for  the  coming  generations ;  but  we  have  to  guard  the  forests 
against  the  individual  selfishly  seeking  his  own  present  welfare. 
Thus  civilization  is  not  only  the  fuller  and  richer  life  of  society, 
but  the  environment  as  it  has  been  changed  by  the  succeeding 
generations.  The  civilization  of  a  great  city  includes  the  houses, 
streets  and  parks  as  well  as  the  social  life  of  the  citizens. 
The  third  law,  that  of  inheritance,  covers  both  of  these  depart- 
ments of  society  becoming  civilized ;  the  civilized  man  and  the 
civilized  condition.  In  the  process  of  civilization  each  genera- 
tion inherits  inwardly  and  outwardly.  Specially  developed  indi- 
viduals give  to  their  descendants  some  at  least  of  their  special 
attainments,  though  here  as  in  the  lower  grades  the  law  of  in- 
heritance is  crossed  by  the  law  of  variation. 

By  process  of  education  one  increases  not  only  knowledge  but 
mainly  the  intellectual  acumen  to  discover  and  grasp  it.  So  by 
inheritance  successive  generations  develop  intellectual  power  and 
keenness,  and  also  large  stores  of  knowledge. 

But  whatever  may  be  said  of  highly  developed  individuals 
forming  new  species  in  the  lower  orders,  no  one  has  ever  yet 
found  a  single  hint  of  a  new  race  being  evolved  in  this  way  from 
the  race  of  man.  Whatever  progress  is  being  made  is  wholly 
within  the  limits  of  mankind.  The  20th  Century  man  is  far 
removed  from  the  primeval  savage,  but  he  is  still  a  man.  The 
constant  factor  in  all  this  evolution  is  the  presence  and  direct- 
ing force  of  the  great  Creator.  He  introduced  life  in  the  pre- 
pared earth  and  unfolded  it.  He  introduced  His  likeness,  a  new 
life,  into  the  prepared  life,  and  is  still  unfolding  it.  Christianity 
is  itself  the  introduction  of  a  new  life  as  needed.  The  super- 
natural revelation  of  the  Divine  Life  in  human  life  in  the  per- 
son of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  preeminently  the  new  life  intro- 
duced in  the  fulness  of  time.  As  this  new  life  takes  more  and 
more  possession  of  human  life  it  ushers  in  the  society  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  on  earth.  The  evolution  may  seem  to  eager  minds 
slow,  but  like  all  evolution  it  has  the  ages  for  its  field  and  it  is 
sure  the  unfolding  is  ceaseless  and  inevitable  progress.  Here  in 
this  highest  sphere  however  it  seems  to  be  still  within  the  limit 


26  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  kind.  The  20th.  Century  man  and  the  20th  Century  society 
give  promise  of  a  finer  man  and  a  better  society,  the  advance 
has  been  great  but  the  end  is  not  yet,  the  goal  is  still  ahead,  but 
it  w^ill  be  still  within  the  limits  of  kind.  The  fully  redeemed 
man,  perfect  in  Christ,  and  the  fully  evolved  society,  complete 
in  Christ,  vv^ill  still  be  human,  within  the  limit  of  mankind.  The 
science  of  sociology  simply  studies  how  God  works,  what  are 
His  methods  of  developing  and  moulding  human  nature  in  so- 
ciety. The  highest  ideal  of  human  society  is  found  in  the  Bible, 
the  setting  forth  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  God  the  Father,  Man 
the  Brother,  Love  the  Law. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Sociology  and  the  Bible. 

Sociology  is  the  sum  of  our  knowledge  of  society.  This  know- 
ledge includes  not  only  the  facts  as  they  have  been  discovered  and 
classified,  but  the  laws  and  forces  which  underlie  the  facts.  These 
have  produced  the  present  condition  of  whatever  particular  sec- 
tion of  society  may  be  considered,  and  these,  together  with  new 
forces  from  other  sections,  will  produce  whatever  future  condi- 
tion that  society  may  attain.  Here  as  elsewhere  man  sees  in 
the  present  a  product  of  the  past  and  a  promise  of  the  future. 
Thus  Sociology  has  three  great  departments  called  Descriptive, 
Statical  and  Dynamic;  and  sociologists  while  unable  to  neglect 
either  manifest  their  individual  tastes  by  the  emphasis  they  place 
upon  one  or  the  other. 

The  Descriptive  describes  the  present  condition  and  how  it 
has  been  brought  about,  it  includes  therefore  the  historical.  The 
society  of  today  wherever  found  has  evolved  from  the  society  of 
yesterday.  The  general  society  attained  by  man  upon  the  earth 
today  has  wide  variety,  but  in  every  variety  there  are  some  com- 
mon features,  these  are  descriptive  of  the  nature  of  man,  as  a 
Socius.  Sections  of  society  which  have  advanced  far  beyond 
others  in  all  we  call  civilization  may  see  in  the  present  condition 
of  the  others  stages  of  development  through  which  they  have 
passed.  Whether  the  lower  conditions  can  see  in  the  higher  a 
stage  to  which  they  may  attain,  depends  not  only  on  the  nature 
of  man  as  a  socius,  which  would  be  hopeful,  but  upon  the  physi- 
cal conditions  of  the  portion  of  the  globe  he  has  for  his  dwelling 
place.  Much  of  the  variety  of  social  life  upon  the  earth  today, 
of  the  various  races  and  tribes  of  mankind,  comes  from  the  modi- 


28  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

fication  of  the  Socius  by  his  environment,  whether  he  lives  in  the 
frigid,  the  temperate  or  the  torid  zone,  in  the  orient  or  the  Occi- 
dent, on  an  island  of  the  sea  or  in  the  heart  of  a  continent,  on 
a  plain  or  among  the  mountains.  Man  can  modify  his  environ- 
ment to  a  considerable  extent,  he  can  live  in  all  these  sections, 
but  they  also  modify  him.  From  this  modification  of  the  Socius 
himself  a  w^ider  and  fuller  life  is  produced  than  would  be  pos- 
sible did  the  whole  race  of  mankind  live  under  the  same  condi- 
tions. Thus  the  Great  Life  Giver  has  provided  as  in  the  lower 
grades,  so  in  the  higher,  for  the  greatest  fulness  of  human  life. 
The  linking  together  of  all  lands  and  all  climes  which  is  the 
growing  characteristic  of  modern  times,  makes  the  special  product 
of  one  the  possession  of  all.  This  includes  the  peculiar  features 
of  society  the  product  of  many  climes;  desirable  manners  and 
customes  as  well  as  other  fabrics  may  be  exchanged.  Besides 
the  sociologist  may  take  a  wide  view  of  the  rich  varieties  of  life 
attained  by  the  whole  race,  a  view  of  the  past  and  the  present 
and  full  of  large  hopes  of  the  future.  That  which  has  been 
attained  by  any  particular  section  may  not  yet  be  the  full  attain- 
ment possible,  even  to  its  unaided  efforts.  It  has  mainly  been 
attained  by  itself  alone,  but  now  it  is  brought  into  closer  rela- 
tions with  other  sections  both  to  give  and  to  receive  desirable 
things,  and  it  may  thus  develop  more  rapidly.  Besides  the  soci- 
ologists, men  of  science,  are  now  studying  all  the  facts  of  society 
of  each  section  compared  with  all  others,  and  may  be  able  to 
give  such  incentive  and  direction  as  shall  lead  to  further  and 
better  advance. 

Statical  Sociology  takes  the  history  and  present  conditions  of 
society  given  it  by  the  Descriptive  department,  and  in  a  critical 
and  constructive  study  seeks  to  discover  what  will  be  the  prob- 
able future.  It  takes  the  facts  and  forces  of  descriptive  sociology 
and  regards  them  as  containing  social  potencies  determining  social 
possibilities.  It  wastes  no  time  in  fancying  what  society  might 
be  if  laziness  was  an  element  of  progress.  It  discovers  the  powers 
found  in  the  experience  of  mankind  as  making  for  progress,  and 
considers  what  further  progress  they  may  promote.     It  discovers 


SOCIOLOGY  AND  THE  BIBLE  29 

the  powers  which  have  limited  progress  and  considers  whether 
they  are  exhausted  or  may  be  overcome.  It  patiently  considers 
the  apparently  conflicting  powers  to  see  if  there  is  any  promise  of 
their  combining.  It  never  quarrels  with  facts,  but  carefully 
strives  to  discover  their  meaning.  It  forms  ideals,  not  the  ideals 
of  the  visionary  but  of  the  scientists,  it  sees  the  ideals  existing  in 
the  powers  working  in  society.  It  strives  to  catch  a  vision  of, 
and  to  fix  its  steady  gaze  upon  the  ideals  of  God  as  He  is  work- 
ing them  out  in  the  laws  and  forces  of  societ>\  Enthusiasts  some- 
times disregard  constant  and  ineradicable  forces,  and  even  regard 
a  conflict  as  inevitable  and  destructive,  when  a  combination  for 
the  highest  good  is  within  the  range  of  the  scientist's  vision,  the 
ideal  within  the  breast  of  the  apparently  conflicting  forces.  For 
example,  man's  love  of  himself  need  not  conflict  with  his  love 
of  society,  in  fact  only  he  who  rightly  loves  himself  can  properly 
love  his  fellow  men.  Egoism  often  does  conflict  with  altruism, 
but  in  such  a  case  neither  one  is  within  its  proper  sphere,  and 
both  are  exaggerated  in  the  conflict.  True  altruism  must  be 
based  upon  and  measured  by  true  egoism.  It  is  impossible  to 
make  either  the  individual  or  the  whole  society  the  sole  stand- 
ard, both  must  be  included,  they  are  not  in  conflict  but  in  har- 
mony. He  who  truly  loves  humanity  is  himself  included  in  the 
humanity  he  loves.  In  low  forms  of  society  self  interest  is  in 
constant  warfare  with  other  self  interest,  in  the  ascending  grades 
its  true  interest  is  more  and  more  found  in  combination  for  the 
general  welfare.  We  have  not  yet  reached  the  grade  when  self 
interest  and  collective  welfare  are  one  in  fact  but  we  can  already 
see  the  ideal  written  in  the  breast  of  humanity,  and  the  reason- 
ableness of  it,  that  there  is  no  real  opposition  between  rational 
egoism  and  rational  altruism.  This  is  surely  God's  ideal,  and 
here  as  every  where  the  religious  view  is  the  highest  view  reason 
can  have. 

Dynamic  Sociology  considers  the  possibility  of  intelligently  di- 
recting the  action  of  the  inherent  powers  of  society  to  the  attain- 
ment of  its  ideals.  It  contemplates  social  phenomena  as  capable 
of   intelligent  control   by  society   itself   in   its  own   interests.      It 


30  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

strives  to  discover,  enlist,  and  mass  rational  forces  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  reasonable  ideals.  It  seeks  to  arouse  the  intelligent 
elifort  of  society  itself  to  hasten  the  progress  of  its  own  evolution. 
It  is  evolution  coming  into  self-consciousness  and  striving  to  attain 
its  own  ideals.  Dynamic  Sociology  is  the  living  science  to  which 
the  others  are  introductory. 

It  is  the  culmination  of  sociology  and  considers  the  available 
forces  for  changing  a  latent  ideal  into  a  living  realty.  Present 
methods  of  using  fuel  involve  a  large  waste  of  energy,  the  state- 
ment of  that  fact  is  quite  independent  of  schemes  for  saving  that 
waste,  though  it  may  lead  thoughtful  men  to  devise  such  schemes. 
So  with  the  wastes  of  society.  Statical  sociology  searches  for 
hopeful  remedies.  Dynamic  sociology  seeks  to  arouse  society  to 
apply  these  remedies.  Descriptive  sociology  has  a  brilliant 
method  of  observation  and  generalization  and  fine  descriptive 
powers,  but  by  itself  it  can  have  no  more  influence  on  human 
progress  than  the  description  of  the  waves  of  the  ocean  and  of 
ships,  can  have  on  the  progress  of  ships.  Statical  sociology  is 
like  studying  the  force  of  the  waves,  the  length  of  the  trough 
and  its  depth,  and  getting  an  ideal  of  a  steamship  so  long  and 
heavy  that  it  cannot  be  lifted  in  the  middle  by  a  big  wave  but 
reaches  from  crest  to  crest,  and  rides  steadily  in  the  heaviest 
storm.  Dynamic  sociology  forms  a  company,  builds  and  navi- 
gates such  a  ship.  Bliss  Carmen  in  "A  Coronation  Ode,"  de- 
scribes the  Anglo  Saxon  character, 

"They  have  visions  of  a  country  that  sorrow  never  knew; 

"They  have  rumors  of  a  region  where  the  heart  has  naught  to  rue  ; 

"And  never  will  they  rest 

"Till  they  reach  the  fabled  west 

"That  Is  charted  dim  but  certain  in  the  Volume  of  the  Breast, 

"And  forever  they  are  dreamers  that  make  the  dream  come  true." 

Statical  Sociology  discovers  the  ideal  charted  in  the  breast. 
Dynamic  sociology  calls  the  dreamer  to  make  the  dream  come 
true,  never  to  rest  till  he  makes  the  dream  come  true. 


SOCIOLOGY  AND  THE  BIBLE  31 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  social  condition  of  any  particular 
society  at  any  particular  time  under  consideration  contained  not 
only  the  product  of  the  past  but  the  promise  of  its  own  coming 
future,  it  contained  the  ideals  written  in  its  nature  though  it 
was  unconscious  of  them  and  had  no  purpose  concerning  them. 
It  is  quite  evident  also  that  some  peculiarly  gifted  and  sensitive 
individuals  or  even  classes  in  such  society  may  have  felt  vaguely 
stirring  within  them  the  longings  of  their  nature,  may  have  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  ideal  of  this  future  coming  into  form,  and  may 
have  expressed  this  in  such  a  way  as  to  fix  it  in  the  attention  of 
their  fellows  and  to  leave  a  record  of  their  hopes  to  he  considered 
by  future  ages.  Whenever  any  particular  society  has  produced  a 
literature  it  is  apt  to  be  more  than  a  record  of  persons  and  events, 
more  than  the  basis  of  descriptive  sociology,  it  is  apt  to  contain 
the  ideals  of  that  time  coming  into  consciousness  and  even  into 
purpose,  giving  a  basis  for  the  statical  and  dynamic  in  sociology. 
The  sociologists  of  the  future  looking  back  upon  the  society  of 
England  in  the  time  of  Edward  VII  will  take  into  consideration 
not  only  the  coronation  of  the  King  over  the  vast  empire,  but 
the  Anglo  Saxon  character  coming  into  consciousness  in  the  Coro- 
nation Ode  of  Bliss  Carmen  and  in  other  pieces  of  literature. 

The  Sociology  of  the  Bible  may  be  considered  as  part  of  the       y/ 
general  science  in  that  it  describes  a  particular  society,  but  the 
distinctive  element   of   this  society   is  so  peculiarly   its  own   and 
so  vastly  important  as  a  contribution  to  the  general  society  that 
it   is    deserving   of   careful    consideration    by    itself.      The    Bible       "^ 
describes  a  society  which  groups  itself  around  that  supernatural 
revelation  and  conception  of  God  found  only  in  the  Bible.     It      i. 
is  true  the  God  so  revealed  and  believed  in,  is  the  God  revealed 
in  nature,  the  God  of  all  the  sciences,  and  the  God  who  formed 
the  nature,  laws  and  forces  of  society.     Still  it  is  equally  true     < 
that  society  in   general, 'society  in  all  other  particular  branches 
has  been  formed  without  this  special  knowledge  of  the  true  God. 
The   Society   found    outside   the    Bible   record,    differs    from    the 
special  society  of  the  Bible  simply  in  not  having  this  Bible  con- 
ception of  God ;  and  this  difference  is  one  of  vast  influence.     In 


32  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

all  civilized  lands  to-day  men  no  longer  believe  in  a  particular 
God  for  each  particular  nation,  nor  in  many  Gods.  Some  ques- 
tion whether  there  is  any  God  at  all,  but  there  are  compara- 
tively few,  so  few  that  they  may  be  ignored.  All  agree  that  all 
the  evidence  points  to  the  existence  of  but  one  God.  All  the  lines 
of  research  of  the  various  sciences  run  out  beyond  the  gaze  of 
man,  but  they  do  not  run  in  various  directions,  they  converge  in 
the  dazzling  light  of  the  absolute  and  eternal  God.  These  sciences 
flourish  where  the  Bible  flourishes.  The  society  of  these  lands 
)if  is  largely  influenced  by  the  Bible  conception  of  God.  The  Bible 
gives  the  account  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  a  society  whose  dis- 
tinctive feature  is  that  it  has  a  special  progressive  conception  of 
the  being,  character  and  will  of  the  True  God,  and  it  shows  how 
this  society  has  been  bound  together  and  moulded  by  this  concep- 
tion. Whether  this  conception  is  based  upon  a  progressive  reve- 
lation made  by  God  in  supernatural  ways,  or  is  the  unfolding 
of  the  human  mind  under  the  special  training  of  the  ever  ruling 
God,  it  is  evidently  one  that  must  have  large  influence  on  social 
development.  In  either  case  also  it  is  evident  that  the  concep- 
tion may  be  inadequate  of  the  truth  either  of  the  nature,  char- 
acter, or  will  of  God,  and  then  the  mistaken  conception  will  be 
the  one  influencing  the  social  development. 

Biblical  Theology  is  concerned  with  the  statement  in  detail 
with  all  possible  fulness  of  this  conception  of  God,  what  it  is 
^  /  and  upon  what  it  is  based.  Biblical  Sociology  is  concerned  with 
"^  tracing  the  influence  this  conception  of  God  has  had  in  the  forma- 
tion and  development  of  the  particular  society  whose  history  is 
most  fully  recorded.  It  may  borrow  from  Biblical  Theology  all 
its  vast  treasure,  and  still  it  has  a  wide  province  of  vast  richness 
distinctively  its  own. 

The  technical  term  Biblical  Sociology,  though  as  far  as  I  am 
aware  it  has  not  been  specially  used,  at  least  I  know  of  no  book 
with  this  title,  would  be  restricted  to  this  particular  society,  by 
its  likeness  to  the  already  well  established  and  familiar  term 
Biblical  Theology.  The  title  I  have  chosen  for  this  book,  The 
Sociology  of  the  Bible,  is  not  so  limited. 


SOCIOLOGY  AND  THE  BIBLE  33 

It  includes  the  above  as  its  main  subject  and  it  has  four  added 
elements  of  great  interest  related  with  or  growing  out  of  it.  The 
first  is  the  glimpse  we  have  in  the  Bible  of  society  in  its  earliest 
stages.  The  Bible  is  an  early  literature  comparing  with  the 
Egyptian  hieroglyphic  and  the  Babylon  cuneiform  writings,  and 
less  fragmentary  than  these.  It  gives  a  more  connected  and  wider 
and  even  clearer  view  of  the  earliest  society  than  any  other  rec- 
ord. It  is  nearer  in  some  of  its  features  to  a  contemporaneous  rec- 
ord of  primitive  society,  its  traditions  and  prospects,  than  we  can 
find  even  on  stone  or  brick.  This  is  a  fascinating  field  for  the 
eager  sociologist,  which  has  not  yet  been  fully  explored.  It  is 
from  this  early  society  that  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible 
arises. 

The  second  added  element  is  the  vivid  pictures  we  have 
sketched  in  the  Bible  of  many  features  of  the  four  great  civiliza- 
tions of  ancient  times,  in  whose  midst  or  by  whose  side  the  par- 
ticular society  of  the  Bible  runs  its  course.  We  see  the  magnifi- 
cent life  of  Babylon,  the  ric)i  life  of  Egypt,  the  cultured  life  of 
Greece,  the  powerful  life  of  Rome.  These  varied  societies  and 
other  lesser  ones  have  varied  conceptions  of  God,  some  of  national 
gods,  some  of  many  combining  or  conflicting  gods,  none  the 
same,  many  widely  contrasted  with  that  conception  which  is  the 
peculiar  possession  of  the  special  society  of  the  Bible.  The  atti- 
tude of  this  favored  society  toward  the  others  it  touches  or  with 
whom  it  mingles  is  of  great  interest,  and  is  either  that  of  con- 
tempt and  repulsion,  or  of  pity  and  desire  to  help,  or  of  tolerance 
and  yielding  to  or  even  being  charmed  by  them;  and  whether 
one  or  the  other  or  all  three  upon  different  sections,  it  is  largely 
influenced  by  them,  and  it  has  also  had  large  influence  upon  them. 

The  third  added  element  is  that  this  society  grouped  about 
its  peculiar  conception  of  God  does  not  end  where  the  Bible 
ends  its  history,  but  is  at  that  time  projected  into  the  world's 
society  with  all  its  accumulated  force.  A  careful  study  of  the 
influence  it  has  exerted  in  changing  the  natural  development  of 
many  particular  societies  by  the  introduction  of  its  conception  of 
God   and   its  spirit  of  loving  obedience  to   Him   is  a  somewhat 


34 


THE   SOCIOLOGY  (i)F  THE  BIBLE 


difficult   but  a  wonderfully  interesting  and   stimulating  part  of 
the  Sociology  of  the  Bible.     This  extends  from  the  close  of  the 
Bible  history  until  the  present  time  and  it  is  still  going  on  with 
undiminished,  even  with  increasing  force. 
/  The  fourth  added  element  is  the  bearing  of  the  principles  of 

\  Bible  Sociology  upon  the  social  problems  facing  the  world  today. 
It  is  closely  related  to  the  last  element  stated,  but  may  be  separ- 
ately considered  as  the  influence  of  Bible  Sociology  upon  the 
general  society  of  the  present  and  the  future.  In  the  general 
society  of  the  whole  earth  today  there  is  a  distinct  portion,  wide 
and  ever  growing  wider  which  is  to  some  extent  an  outgrowth 
of  and  is  to  a  large  extent  influenced  by  Bible  Sociology.  This 
portion  which  is  called  Christian,  exists  contemporaneously  with 
other  portions  without  this  distinctive  element  which  may  be 
called  heathen.  The  comparison  and  contrasts  are  many  of  them 
easily  seen  and  full  of  instruction.  It  is  of  great  interest  also 
to  trace  what  is  distinctively  Biblical  in  the  society  of  Christian 
lands  today;  also  what  in  such  society  is  not  Biblical  or  is  even 
anti-biblical;  and  also  what  is  essentially  a  part  of  Biblical  Soci- 
ology, and  yet  is  not  present  in  Christian  society  today,  or  if 
present  is  not  pure  or  prominent.  As  every  stage  of  society  is 
not  only  historical  and  descriptive  but  statical  and  dynamic  as  well, 
the  further  question  arises  are  the  ideals  and  hopes  Christian 
society  finds  today  written  in  its  breast,  in  harmony  or  in  dis- 
cord with  those  of  Bible  Sociology'.  Thus  the  Sociology  of  the 
Bible  contains  all  that  is  included  in  the  technical  term  Biblical 
Sociology  and  at  least  these  four  added  elements;  it  has  there- 
fore a  wide  field  of  investigation  distinctively  its  own. 

The  particular  society  of  the  Bible  is  based  upon  the  entire 
nature  of  man  as  a  Socius,  and  recognizes  especially  the  import- 
ance of  his  religious  nature  as  a  combining  force  with  his  fellows. 
The  organization  of  this  particular  s6ciety  begins  with  a  family, 
grows  into  a  tribe  or  tribes,  then  into  a  nation,  it  then  spreads 
into  a  society  unlimited  by  race  or  national  bounds,  and  it  strives 
and  promises  to  embrace  the  whole  society  of  the  human  race. 
The  growing  conception  of  God  shows  Him  worthy  of  the  su- 


SOCIOLOGY  AND  THE  BIBLE  35 

preme  love  of  every  individual  man,  and  of  every  family,  tribe, 
nation  or  race,  worthy  of  the  supreme  love  of  mankind.  Man  is 
cultured  in  this  society  until  each  one  recognizes  every  other 
member  of  the  w^hole  race  as  worthy  of  the  love  he  bears  him- 
self. Other  religions  may  be  content  with  God  and  a  soul,  and 
may  aim  at  the  rapture  of  adoration  alone — the  Bible  religion 
requires  a  third  party,  God,  the  soul  and  another  soul;  its  rapture 
of  adoration  must  develop  a  spirit  of  brotherhood.  As  the  brother- 
hood draws  close  to  God  in  adoration  they  are  drawn  closer  to 
each  other  in  mutual  love,  and  their  desire  and  effort  become  con- 
tinually stronger  to  draw  the  whole  race  of  mankind  within  the 
charmed  circle  of  a  worshiping  society,  an  adoring  brotherhood. 
The  religion  of  the  Bible  is  theological,  based  upon  the  know- 
ledge of  God  as  worthy  of  supreme  love;  it  is  also  sociological 
based  upon  the  knowledge  of  man  as  worthy  of  the  love  each 
one  gives  himself;  and  as  both  it  enters  with  controlling  power 
into  all  the  relations  of  this  earthly  life.  That  is  a  mistaken  idea 
of  religion  which  thinks  only  of  its  God-ward  outlook;  it  must 
have  the  manward  attitude,  or  it  cannot  please  God.  The  eter- 
nal blessedness  of  which  the  Bible  speaks  is  a  social  life,  the 
religion  of  earth  is  not  limited  by  the  earth  life,  but  stretching 
out  into  eternity  it  is  still  God,  the  soul  and  other  souls.  The 
religion  of  the  Bible  in  its  highest  unity  is  love.  It  is  divided 
into  two  parts,  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  man;  it  is  both 
theological  and  sociological,  neither  part  can  be  left  out  without 
destroying  the  whole. 

Thus  the  Bible  clearly  presents  as  the  fundamental  truth  of 
all  sociology  that  man's  like-mindedness  with  his  brother  man  arises 
from  his  like-mindedness  with  his  Father  God.  The  basis  of  the 
solidarity  of  the  race  of  man  is  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  Where- 
ever  man  is  found,  even  in  the  lowest  savage,  there  is,  though 
in  the  lowest  conceivable  degree,  a  trace  of  this  like-mindedness, 
and  there  in  its  lowest  form  is  a  human  society.  However  man  may 
develop,  whatever  lofty  form  of  society  may  be  reached,  it  is 
only  by  this  like-mindedness  coming  out  in  ever  clearer  features. 


36  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

Bible   Sociology   culminates   in   the  Kingdom   of   God,   which   is 
the  highest  possible  ideal  society  of  the  whole  race  of  man. 

Bible  Sociology  is  then  historical  and  descriptive  from  Genesis 
to  Revelation.  At  every  stage  it  is  also  statical  as  it  contains 
this  ideal  coming  forth  into  clearer  and  fuller  vision,  a  most 
reasonable  ideal  based  upon  the  like-mindedness  of  God  and  man. 
At  every  stage  it  is  also  dynamic  as  it  provides  the  power  to 
realize  this  ideal  in  the  growing  immanence  of  God  producing  in 
man  a  growing  like-mindedness  to  Him,  the  Divine  Father  dwell- 
ing in  His  children. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Sociology  of  the  Bible  and  the  Higher  Criticism. 

The  theistic  and  Christian  evolution  which  we  have  seen  in  a 
former  chapter  runs  through  the  universe  and  man  from  the 
far  off  star  dust  to  the  finest  social  development  attained  in  mod- 
ern civilization  we  may  now  trace  through  the  Bible  itself.  The 
two  views  of  the  Bible  prevailing  today  will  not  be  discussed 
further  than  they  have  a  bearing  on  our  subject.  The  traditional 
view  holds  that  the  Bible  was  largely  written  by  eye-witnesses 
of  the  events  recorded,  and  that  many  of  these  events  are  con- 
nected with  a  supernatural  revelation  of  God.  The  Higher 
Critical  view  holds  that  the  Bible,  especially  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, took  its  present  form  late  in  the  national  life  of  the  He- 
brews, many  centuries  after  the  actors  in  the  earlier  events  had 
passed  away;  that  some  of  these  actors  and  events  are  not  strictly 
historical,  and  that  in  these  writings  we  have  the  conception  the 
Hebrew  people  formed  of  God.  In  considering  Higher  Criti- 
cism one  will  do  well,  as  in  the  cases  of  socialism  and  evolu- 
tion, to  take  the  description  of  it  from  those  who  hold  and  advo- 
cate it.  Driver  holds  that  Moses  did  not  write  the  account  of 
the  events  of  his  day,  on  the  contrary  that  older  written  accounts 
of  those  times  worked  up  in  the  Bible  narrative  were  first  set 
down  at  least  five  centuries  after  him.  Budde  claims  that  the 
patriarchs  are  in  reality  nothing  more  than  the  ideal  reflection 
of  the  nation  Israel  thrown  back  upon  the  past.  In  the  folk 
stories  and  songs  no  mention  of  them  is  found.  They  never 
existed.  No  nation  knows  the  actual  father  from  whom  it  takes 
its  origin.  Day  in  searching  for  historical  material  says  he  is 
forced  to  ignore  almost  the  whole  of  Joshua,  and  can  find  little 


38  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  value  in  Judges,  it  has  been  so  worked  over  by  the  priestly 
writers  of  post  exile  times. 

The  theory  of  the  Higher  Criticism  concisely  stated  is  that  the 
first  six  books  of  the  Bible  were  compiled  from  a  number  of 
documents  which  are  denoted  by  different  symbol  letters.  First 
in  order  of  time  was  the  J.  document  taking  its  symbol  from 
Jehovah,  the  name  of  the  deity  found  in  it.  Following  it  was 
the  E.  document,  taking  its  symbol  from  the  name  of  God  found 
in  it,  Elohim.  The  date  of  the  origin  of  these  documents  is  not 
known,  but  the  theory  is  that  they  were  joined  into  one  called 
J.E.  about  750  B.  C. 

The  D.  document  takes  its  symbol  from  the  book  of  Deuter- 
onomy, claiming  that  book  was  discovered  by  Josiah  and  that  it 
originated  in  the  time  of  Manasseh.  Then  J.E.  and  D.  were 
combined  in  J.E.D.  known  as  the  prophetical  narrative.  Side 
by  side  with  this  prophetical  narrative  is  a  priestly  narrative 
known  as  P. — forming  the  basis  of  the  six  books — this  arose  in 
the  Exile  in  Babylon  or  after  the  Exile.  In  the  final  combination 
into  the  present  form  the  language  of  the  different  documents 
were  carefully  preserved  as  far  as  possible,  and  may  be  traced. 
The  laws  found  in  these  documents,  those  in  J.E.,  in  D.  and 
in  P.,  are  the  product  of  the  different  social  and  religious  condi- 
tions of  the  ages  in  which  they  originated,  and  are  often  incon- 
sistent with  each  other.  These  documents  also  run  through  the 
late  history,  though  not  so  clearly. 

While  these  conflicting  views  have  their  principal  bearing  on 
theology  it  is  quite  evident  they  must  have  some  bearing  also 
on  sociology.  Bible  Sociology  treats  of  that  Particular  Society 
described  in  the  Bible  which  is  distinguished  from  society  in  gen- 
eral in  that  it  is  grouped  about  a  conception  of  God  peculiar  to 
the  Bible.  It  is  true  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God  must 
be  received,  that  it  must  become  a  conception,  before  it  can  largely 
influence  society.  The  revelation  may  be  perfect,  and  the  con- 
ception based  upon  it  may  not  be  in  harmony  with  it  in  all  re- 
spects, still  it  is  this  imperfect  conception  which  alone  can  influ- 
ence either  the  individual     or  the  social  consciousness.     But  a 


BIBLE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  39 

conception  of  God  based  upon  a  supernatural  revelation  made 
by  Him  starts  at  once  with  a  degree  of  clearness  and  fulness 
which  cannot  belong  to  a  conception  of  God  gradually  forming 
from  observation  and  reflection  upon  the  light  of  nature  and  the 
history  of  man.  The  supernatural  revelation  may  itself  be  pro- 
gressive, but  even  the  first  unfolding  of  it,  the  lowest  stage  of  its 
beginning,  must  have  a  vividness  and  effect  on  the  correspond- 
ing conception  which  a  conception  based  only  upon  reflection 
upon  nature  and  history  could  not  have.  Hence  the  society 
formed  around  this  conception  based  upon  a  supernatural  reve- 
lation of  God  would  differ  widely  at  the  start  from  the  society 
formed  about  the  conception  based  upon  a  simply  natural  revela- 
tion. 

Then  too  the  view  given  of  society  especially  of  the  early  days 
is  much  more  vivid  and  reliable  if  written  by  eye  witnesses  ac- 
cording to  the  traditional  view,  than  if  written  long  afterwards 
by  men  however  well  informed.  Much  of  the  description  of 
society  is  in  the  one  case  historical,  in  the  other  it  is  necessarily 
fictional.  The  writers  in  the  time  of  the  later  Kings,  or  of  the 
post  exile  priests,  in  describing  the  life  in  Egypt  and  in  the  desert, 
even  though  they  had  many  traditions  and  even  records  as  the 
basis  of  their  story  must  inevitably  have  added  many  details  and 
much  coloring  from  their  own  surroundings.  Take  for  instance, 
the  story  of  Joseph,  if  the  traditions  whether  oral  or  written 
upon  which  the  record  was  based  passed  into  final  form  under 
the  hand  of  Moses,  he  though  living  in  Eg3'pt  only  a  few  gen- 
erations afterward,  would  have  had  a  difficult  task  to  keep  his 
surroundings  from  coloring  his  story,  but  this  would  have  been 
as  nothing  to  the  task  of  writers  living  a  thousand  j^ears  after- 
wards in  a  far  different  civilization,  and  in  a  far  distant  moun- 
tainous land.  The  sociological  data  of  any  particular  time  must 
be  far  different  whether  found  in  the  writings  of  the  poets,  ora- 
tors and  historians  of  that  time  or  of  those  of  times  long  after- 
wards. In  the  first  case  there  is  but  one  environment  that  of 
both  the  society  and  the  writers ;  in  the  other  case  there  are  neces- 
sarily  two   environments,   one   of   the   society   described   and   the 

4 


40  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

other  of  the  writers  describing  it.  The  task  of  readers  and  care- 
ful students  in  far  after  years  is  comparatively  easy  with  the 
first  case,  and  extremely  difficult  with  the  latter  case.  The  evi- 
dence of  a  particular  law,  custom  or  institution  in  the  one  case 
is  clear,  in  the  second  case  it  is  conflicting,  one  can  hardly  tell 
whether  the  law,  custom  or  institution  is  of  the  society  described 
or  of  the  society  in  which  the  poets,  orators  or  historians  describ- 
ing it,  were  living.  In  this  latter  case  the  story  of  Abraham  as 
far  as  the  sociological  data  of  it  is  concerned  does  not  come  from 
his  times  alone  but  from  that  of  writers  many  hundreds  of  years 
after  him,  and  this  is  still  more  markedly  the  case  with  the  vague 
traditions  of  the  times  before  him.  If  we  come  down  to  the 
time  of  Ruth,  in  the  book  we  have  a  description  of  life  as  affected 
by  the  laws  of  religion,  the  laws  of  marriage  and  the  laws  of 
inheritance  of  the  land  prevailing  in  that  day;  but  according  to 
the  Higher  Critical  view  these  all  took  form  long  afterwards, 
and  the  social  life  of  Ruth's  own  time  must  be  considered  with- 
out them.  When  we  come  to  the  post  exile  time,  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  give  an  account  of  social  conditions  which  are  hardly 
the  proper  background  for  the  political,  religious  and  literary 
geniuses  who  gave  the  present  form  to  the  Bible  narrative ;  so 
that  social  condition  too  has  to  be  reformed  and  recolored.  The 
narratives  of  the  early  times  if  written  in  far  later  days  will 
aiiford  of  course  some  material  for  a  picture  of  the  later  days,  in 
the  necessary  though  unconscious  coloring  of  the  writers; 
but  the  gathering  of  such  material  in  our  day  will  be  a  difficult 
task  dependent  upon  the  arbitary  judgment  of  the  student.  So 
Day,  in  attempting  to  picture  the  social  life  of  the  Hebrews  in 
the  time  of  the  Monarchy,  finds  good  material  in  the  priestly 
and  prophetic  narratives  of  Genesis,  particularly  in  the  patri- 
archal stories.  He  says,  "the  social  ideals,  and  religious  practices, 
the  traditions  and  customs  of  the  people  of  the  ninth  and  eighth 
centuries  come  strikingly  to  the  surface  of  these  narratives."  He 
concludes  however  that  the  unblushing  disposition  of  Jacob  to 
overreach,  and  the  economic  and  social  policy  of  Joseph  could 
not  have  been  heartily  endorsed  by  the  best  men  of  the  eighth 


BIBLE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  41 

century,  as  by  Amos  and  Isaiah,  by  whom  or  among  whom  they 
must  have  originated.  While  Day  is  a  man  of  great  ability  and 
wide  learning  much  of  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of  his  book 
comes  from  the  unreliability  of  his  materials.  For  the  sociologist 
therefore,  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  theologian,  the  tradi- 
tional view  of  the  Bible  is  the  easy  view,  and  the  Higher  Criti- 
cism the  difficult  one. 

But  the  question  is  not  of  ease  but  of  truth :  though  here  as 
elsewhere  the  presumption  is  in  favor  of  the  truth  of  the  story 
written  on  the  face  of  the  literature.  The  Higher  Critical  view^ 
may  be  said  to  be  based  upon  the  theory  of  evolution  in  social 
life,  but  it  is  largely  the  materialistic  theory  and  here  also  as  in 
nature  that  theory  of  evolution  will  not  account  for  all  the  facts 
in  the  case.  The  laws,  customs,  institutions  and  literature  of 
any  nation  are  so  far  as  our  knowledge  extends  the  result  of  its 
growing  social  life.  The  experience  of  a  people  advancing  in 
numbers  from  family  through  tribe  to  nation,  more  fully  occupy- 
ing the  land,  becoming  more  complex  in  inner  relations,  and 
growing  more  intimate  with  surrounding  nations,  is  the  source 
of  laws,  gives  rise  to  customs,  forms,  institutions,  and  in  grow- 
ing self  consciousness  flowers  forth  into  its  literature.  This  is 
the  history  of  all  the  nations  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  and 
it  is  our  own  national  history.  When  we  come  to  the  literature 
of  all  these  nations,  to  our  own  English  and  American  literature, 
that  is  the  story  written  on  its  face.  It  tells  no  other  story,  no 
one  has  the  slightest  cause  to  question  the  gradual  formation  of 
our  laws,  customs,  institutions  and  literature;  they  are  the  natural 
expression  of  the  gradual  growth  of  the  nation.  Liberty  loving 
people  from  England  and  Holland  settled  in  Colonies  on  these 
shores,  after  long  development  they  united  in  a  war  for  inde- 
pendence, then  they  formed  a  constitution,  there  has  grown  large 
local  self  government,  there  has  developed  a  strong  central  gov- 
ernment respected  the  world  over.  That  is  the  one  and  only 
story  of  our  poets,  orators,  historians,  of  our  whole  literature; 
there  is  no  other  story,  because  there  could  be  no  other.  To 
reconstruct   another   story   in   after   ages   would   be   false.      Now 


42  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

when  we  come  to  examine  the  Hebrew  people  with  this  theory 
of  evolution  in  mind  we  would  expect  to  see  a  family  enlarging 
into  a  tribe  and  tribes,  these  tribes  are  nomadic  but  finally  leave 
their  wilderness  wanderings,  and  enter  the  land  of  Canaan ;  they 
enter  gradually  in  different  portions,  their  little  tribes  being  at 
first  hardly  noticed  by  the  original  inhabitants;  their  intrusion 
was  permitted ;  their  growth  leads  to  many  a  conflict  with  and  a 
gradual  crowding  out  of  these  inhabitants  or  to  a  commingling 
with  them  until  they  are  in  full  possession  of  the  land.  During 
this  settling  process  their  laws,  customs,  institutions  are  formed, 
and  as  they  advance  in  civilization  their  literature  flowers  forth. 
They  have  varied  experiences  with  other  nations  and  at  length  a 
great  disaster  from  which  they  slowly  recover;  and  in  this  recov- 
ery their  best  literature  takes  its  rise,  and  their  laws,  customs 
and  institutions  become  finally  established.  The  early  tribes 
have  traditions  of  their  ancestors  and  the  late  literature  elabor- 
ates these  legends.  Most  nations  have  their  gods  by  inheritance 
from  their  fathers.  These  tribes  are  peculiar  in  that  they  choose 
their  God,  one  they  first  heard  of  in  their  nomadic  life  in  the 
wilderness  of  Sinai,  and  in  this  choice  there  is  an  element  of 
voluntary  and  grateful  service  which  makes  the  religion  an  ethi- 
cal one,  and  which  is  the  basis  of  their  conception  of  the  one 
righteous  God.  The  laws  and  customs  of  the  worship  of  this 
God  are  slowly  formed  during  their  life  in  Canaan.  This  is 
the  history  of  the  Hebrew  people  as  the  materialistic  evolution 
theory  would  expect  it,  and  as  Budde,  Cheyne  and  others  recon- 
struct it. 

But  in  this  case,  unlike  all  others  we  know  of,  this  is  not  the 
story  told  in  their  own  literature.  The  history  written  on  the 
face  of  their  own  literature  has  to  be  reconstructed  to  conform 
to  this  materialistic  evolution  theory.  On  the  other  view  the  his- 
tory as  it  appears  has  much  evolution  in  it,  but  it  also  has  a  new 
element  introduced,  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God.  A  fam- 
ily becomes  a  nation,  that  is  evolution ;  but  not  exactly  as  other 
families  become  nations;  this  organized  society  grows  around  a 
supernatural  revelation  of  God.     In  the  early  beginnings  of  this 


BIBLE  HIGHER  CRITICISxVI  43 

family  God  supernaturally  revealed  himself  to  their  heads,  and 
the  account  given  of  these  favored  persons  seems  historical.  They 
may  have  had  erroneous  views  of  this  revelation  in  some  particu- 
lars, that  was  their  conception  of  God,  and  their  lives  may  have 
been  influenced  by  it,  still  it  was  a  conception  based  upon  a  super- 
natural revelation.  In  the  growth  of  a  nation  God  gives  fur- 
ther revelations  of  Himself.  He  deals  directly  with  them  or 
through  chosen  representatives;  he  disciplines  them  by  his  guid- 
ance, sustenance,  teachings,  punishments  until  they  are  a  compact 
and  large  national  organization.  Through  Moses  He  directs  the 
form  and  ceremonies  of  the  worship  they  are  to  give  Him,  and 
He  gives  also  the  general  principles  and  many  details  of  the  laws 
with  which  they  are  to  govern  themselves ;  He  through  Moses  also 
gives  them  a  moral  law  of  such  splendid  perfection  that  it  still 
stands  far  ahead  of  the  highest  civilization  of  the  world,  beclcon- 
ing  on  to  even  higher  attainments.  Of  this  whole  supernatural 
revelation  the  nation  at  particular  times,  or  large  parts  of  the 
nation  may  have  had  erroneous  views,  and  their  lives  may  have 
been  wrong  accordingly.  Still  it  was  a  conception  based  upon 
a  supernatural  revelation.  This  compact  nation  under  another 
God  given  leader,  and  with  still  supernatural  revelations  of  God 
directing  them,  enters  and  takes  possession  of  their  land.  They 
may  largely  have  had  erroneous  views  of  God's  nature  and  will, 
and  may  have  acted  wrongly;  still  their  conception  of  God  gov- 
erning their  conduct  is  based  upon  a  supernatural  revelation. 
This  is  the  history  in  the  form  given  it  in  the  Bible,  the  history 
written  upon  the  face  of  the  literature  of  the  Hebrew  people. 
In  order  to  reconstruct  the  history  the  literature  itself  tells 
into  a  history  to  be  like  that  of  all  other  nations,  the  supernatural 
revelation  of  God  has  to  be  left  out.  Now  we  concluded  in  con- 
sidering the  general  theory  of  evolution  that  materialistic  atheis- 
tic evolution  would  not  account  for  either  the  universe  or  man ; 
that  it  gave  no  beginning  of  matter  or  force;  no  formation  of  a 
plan  or  direction  of  it,  that  it  did  not  account  for  life,  for  senti- 
ent life,  for  human  life.  But  we  also  concluded  that  theistic 
and  Christian  evolution  was  the  splendid  unfolding  of  the  plan 


44  THE   SOCIOLOGY   OF  THE   BIBLE 

of  the  transcendent  and  immanent  God,  the  God,  who  imman- 
ent in  all  His  works  became  more  immanent  as  his  unfolding 
plan  needed  Him,  as  in  implanting  life  in  matter  prepared  for 
it,  and  human  life  in  life  prepared  for  it.  Now  if  this  glorious 
transcendent  and  immanent  God,  accounting  for  the  existence 
and  moulding  of  the  universe  and  man,  wishes  to  make  a  further 
revelation  of  Himself  and  to  become  still  more  immanent  in 
man  we  have  sufficient  reason  for,  and  a  reasonable  probability  of 
a  supernatural  revelation  of  Himself;  and  also  for  the  record 
of  it  written  from  such  special  lives  of  men  who  received  it  for 
future  generations,  and  for  conveying  the  continued  imman- 
ence of  God  in  human  life. 

So  the  Christian  Evolution  theory  fully  considered  accounts 
for  the  ordinary  development  of  national  life,  its  laws,  customs 
and  literature;  and  also  account^  for  a  special  national  develop- 
ment, with  its  peculiar  laws,  customs  and  literature  embracing 
a  supernatural  revelation  of  God  in  the  particular  society  of  the 
Bible;  a  new  inflow  of  His  immanence  for  the  further  enrich- 
ment and  uplifting  of  human  life.  Theistic  Christian  Evolution 
accounts  for  the  universe,  for  man,  for  the  general  society  of 
the  race,  in  all  tribes  and  nations;  and  for  the  particular  society 
and  literature  of  the  Hebrews  as  well.  The  transcendent  God 
ever  increases  his  immanence  as  this  plan  evolves.  He  is  more 
immanent  in  the  plant  than  in  the  atom,  in  the  animal  than  in 
the  plant,  in  the  man  than  in  the  animal,  in  general  society  than 
in  the  individual  man  alone,  in  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible 
than  in  the  general  society  of  the  race.  His  immanence  in  the 
society  of  the  Bible  is  an  ever  increasing  one,  the  progressive 
supernatural  revelation  of  Himself  culminating  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  His  growing  Kingdom.  In  the  Bible  there  is  a  won- 
derful amount  of  this  theistic  and  Christian  evolution,  the  un- 
folding of  that  already  existing  in  the  social  being  according  to 
a  well  defined  plan  in  accord  with  his  nature,  as  there  is  in  any 
other  library  of  history,  poetry  and  oratory.  This  also  accounts 
for  all  there  is  in  the  Bible  of  a  sociological  character  be\^ond 
that   which   exists   in    other   literatures.      There    is   the   importa- 


BIBLE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  45 

tion  of  a  new  element,  a  new  force,  a  new  life,  there  is  in  the 
Bible  that  which  is  not  found  in  other  great  national  libraries,  a 
supernatural  revelation  of  God,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  written 
record  bearing  the  correct  account  of  this  revelation,  and  of  the 
impression  made  upon  those  who  originally  received  it,  a  record 
made  to  convey  both  the  revelation  and  the  life  broadcast  to  all 
mankind,  through  all  generations  to  the  end  of  time. 

Holding  this  Christian  evolution  theory  we  cheerfully  accept 
the  methods  of  scientific  historical  investigation  of  the  Higher 
Criticism  and  many  of  the  conclusions  reached  by  it,  and  at  the 
same  time  retain  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  people  written  upon 
the  face  of  their  literature,  the  history  of  a  social  development 
in  individual,  family  and  national  life  formed  around  a  super- 
natural revelation  of  God,  and  described  in  the  main  by  eye- 
witnesses as  the  unfolding  of  God's  plan.  The  methods  of 
Higher  Criticism  apply  to  all  books  as  well  as  to  the  Bible.  It 
asks  what  is  the  nature  of  any  book?  It  makes  a  careful  study 
of  the  language  and  style  of  its  writers,  of  the  manners  and 
customs  described,  of  the  historical  facts  mentioned,  it  compares 
part  with  part,  delights  in  fine  agreements,  detects  slight  dis- 
crepencies  and  so  reaches  an  opinion  as  to  the  origin  of  the  book 
or  books.  There  appears  no  reason  to  exclude  the  books  of 
the  Bible  from  such  scientific  investigation,  nor  that  there  should 
be  any  change  in  the  methods  of  investigations  when  directed  to 
the  books  of  the  Bible.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  methods 
of  historical  investigation,  the  search  for  and  weighing  of  evidence 
for  the  truth  of  the  alleged  facts  mentioned  in  the  books.  There 
seems  no  reason  why  there  should  be  one  kind  of  investigation 
for  books  and  events  that  are  said  to  have  happened  in  Italy,  and 
another  for  those  that  are  said  to  have  happened  in  Palestine; 
one  way  of  testing  the  genuineness  of  the  books  and  the  truth 
of  the  events  written  by  Greek  and  Roman  authors,  and  another 
for  those  written  by  Hebrew  authors.  Nor  should  the  attitude 
of  mind  which  faithfully  works  out  these  principles  and  methods 
of  investigation  be  commended  or  condemned  in  one  case  more 
than  in  the  other.     Such  questions  are  perfectly  proper  concern- 


46  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ing  any  book,  the  mind  naturally  asks  them  and  should  honestly 
and  earnestly  strive  to  secure  satisfactory  answers  from  the  books 
themselves.  It  is  not  a  question  of  books  but  the  search  for 
truth.  Applying  these  methods  to  the  Bible,  its  most  prominent 
feature  seen  at  first  glance  must  not  be  ignored.  It  is  utterly 
unscientific  to  ignore  a  prominent  feature  or  claim  of  any  book. 
It  is  utterly  unscientific  to  start  an  investigation  of  this  litera- 
ture with  the  conclusion  that  it  cannot  be  different  from  other 
literatures,  when  this  its  most  prominent  feature  is  itself  largely 
distinctive  from  all  other  literatures.  This  most  prominent  fea- 
ture becomes  more  and  more  prominent  as  the  investigation  pro- 
ceeds; it  underlies  all  forms;  it  explains  all  peculiarities.  It  is 
the  supernatural  revelation  of  God.  The  Bible  tells  of  a  society 
holding  a  conception  of  God  based  upon  that  supernatural  reve- 
lation ;  it  shows  the  immanence  of  God  advancing  in  events  and 
writings  and  culminating  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  evolu- 
tion found  in  this  society  and  in  its  literature  is  the  evolu- 
tion that  runs  through  all  creation,  that  of  the  transcendent  God, 
immanent  in  all  His  work. 

To  ignore  this  requires  an  entire  reconstruction  of  the  society 
and  of  its  history  and  of  its  literature,  a  reconstruction  so  great 
that  it  makes  the  present  form  of  the  Bible  the  most  stupendous 
piece  of  fiction  the  world  has  ever  known ;  a  fiction  absolutely 
the  only  thing  of  its  kind  among  all  the  vagaries  of  the  human 
mind ;  there  is  nothing  remotely  resembling  it  in  all  the  other 
literature  of  the  world.  The  first  books  of  this  history  become 
under  this  wizard  wand  very  late  books.  They  are  cast  in  the 
form  of  history  by  designing  men  though  with  a  noble  purpose, 
by  the  late  prophets  and  priests  for  the  purpose  of  commending 
the  civil  laws  and  religious  ceremonies  to  the  observance  of  the 
people.  The  work  is  a  compilation  of  stories,  laws,  ceremonies 
and  beliefs  which  have  arisen  from  the  experience  of  the  people, 
and  it  is  cast  in  the  form  of  early  history  to  secure  the  sanction 
of  the  legendary  character  of  Moses,  and  still  farther  back  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  through  these  the  greater  sanc- 
tion of  God   Himself,  a  wonder  working  God.     The  main  fea- 


BIBLE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  47 

ture  of  the  Graf-Wellhausen  conclusion  are  the  creative  func- 
tions of  the  prophets  in  the  Hebrew  religion,  the  Josian  date  of 
Deuteronomy  and  the  exilean  date  of  the  priest  code  and  docu- 
ment, which  is  the  basal  document,  and  gives  the  bulk  not 
only  but  the  main  portion  of  the  framework  of  the  early  books 
of  the  Bible.  They  consider  that  the  religious  leaders  of  the 
Hebrews  from  Gideon  and  Elisha  behaved  as  if  there  were  no 
such  laws  in  existence  as  those  of  Deuteronomy  and  the  Priest 
code,  and  then  conclude  therefore  that  these  laws  did  not  exist. 
The  prophets  and  priests  of  the  later  days  are  the  real  authors  of 
the  early  history,  which  is  thus  largely  fictional.  To  make  the 
fiction  still  more  astounding,  it  is  held  that  it  was  made  not  by 
a  single  wonderful  genius,  for  the  final  redactor  only  smoothed 
out  a  few  wrinkles,  but  by  large  classes  of  men,  schools  of 
prophets  and  priests.  The  story  which  this  literature  of  the 
Hebrews  shows  upon  its  face  and  which  has  been  regarded  so 
long  as  the  only  story  it  told,  is  itself  a  fiction,  and  the  real 
history  is  as  Graf-Wellhausen  discovers  and  reconstructs  it.  Juda- 
ism has  been  resting  for  over  two  thousand  years  upon  this  fic- 
tion. This  whole  fiction  is  so  marvelously  well  done  that  it 
secures  its  acceptance  by  the  people  for  whom  it  was  made,  and 
by  many  successive  generations  of  earnest  souls,  even  down  to 
modern  times.  Moreover  this  stupendous  fiction  as  a  rule  works 
the  intellectual  and  moral  advancement  of  the  race,  and  is  the 
basis  of  the  highest  knowledge  of  God  and  the  finest  social  ad- 
vancement the  world  possesses  today.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive 
of  the  start  of  such  a  fiction,  and  of  its  acceptance  till  modern 
time,  more  difficult  to  account  for  such  excellent  results  flowing 
from  it  through  the  ages.  It  is  difficult  also  to  conceive  of  the 
discovery  of  the  falsity  of  the  original  account  both  in  form  and 
substance  being  made  so  late  in  time  and  by  scholars  of  an 
entirely  different  nationality  and  age.  The  Higher  Critical 
theory  is  based  largely  upon  the  vocabulary  and  style  of  writers 
of  a  list  of  books  finished  over  two  thousand  years  ago,  which 
contains  all  the  books .  written  in  the  language  of  that  period 
now   existing.        No   comparison   can   be   made   with   any   other 


48  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

books.  The  vocabulary  can  only  be  estimated  by  the  works 
in  question,  and  as  far  as  style  is  concerned  the  judgment 
must  be  one  of  individual  taste  of  scholars  of  a  far  different  nation- 
ality and  age.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  the  start,  of  the  ac- 
ceptance, of  the  results  and  finally  of  the  discovery  of  this  fiction. 
It  is  almost  as  easy  to  think  of  the  present  order  in  nature  coming 
from  chance.  The  attempt  to  get  God  out  of  His  Book  as  that 
to  get  Him  out  of  His  w^orld,  only  results  in  stupefying  man. 

The  Christian  evolution  theory  accounts  for  the  order  of 
nature  and  for  the  literature  of  the  Bible,  and  the  substantial 
truth  of  the  history  of  the  society  gathered  by  the  supernatural 
revelation  of  God.  Moses  was  a  strong  enough  personality  to 
stand  at  the  beginning  of  Hebrew  literature,  and  to  give  it  its 
form.  The  form  is  that  of  the  account  of  eye  witnesses  of  its  main 
events.  It  is  frequently  a  compilation  of  traditions  or  of  docu- 
ments, but  these  were  made  by  eye  witnesses,  e.  g.  the  books  of 
Genesis  and  of  Kings  and  Chronicles.  The  moral  law  in  full, 
the  general  features  of  the  civil  law  and  of  the  laws  of  worship 
were  given  by  God  through  Moses,  but  in  such  a  way  that  he 
deserved  the  title,  Moses,  the  Lawgiver;  and  the  nation  formed 
by  and  possessing  these  laws  enters  and  passes  along  in  its  event- 
ful career.  Moses  was  one  of  the  greatest  statemen,  legislators, 
organizers  and  leaders  of  men  in  the  history  of  the  race.  He 
dealt  with  many  grave  and  perplexing  problems  facing  him  and 
he  also  had  a  wise  and  far  look  ahead  as  statesmen  must  have,  for 
the  solution  of  each  present  problem  must  have  the  future  in  its 
vision.  In  the  career  of  the  nation  arise  poets,  orators  and  his- 
torians who  tell  of  the  varied  experiences  and  the  growing  self- 
consciousness  of  the  people.  For  the  same  reasons  therefore  that 
one  is  compelled  to  reject  a  godless  evolution  and  to  receive  a 
God  full  evolution  in  nature,  one  is  compelled  to  do  the  same 
in  the  Bible.  The  Bible  is  the  continued  revelation  of  God,  and 
the  sociologj'  of  the  Bible  is  the  description  of  the  laws  and  forces 
of  the  society  gathered  around  the  conception  of  God  based  upon 
this  supernatural  revelation.  We  shall  look  through  the  Bible 
as  written  mainly  by  eye  witnesses,  to  see  the  society  they  describe. 


BIBLE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  49 

Those  who  hold  the  Higher  Critical  view  may  make  such  cor- 
rections as  thej'  may  find  necessarj'.  It  is  certainly  not  amiss  to 
add  that  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  read  the  story  told  by  the 
recently  deciphered  hieroglyphic  literature  of  Egypt  and  the  cunei- 
form literature  of  the  Euphrates,  books  evidently  written  by  eye 
witnesses  of  the  ancient  scenes,  it  is  confirmative  of  the  view  that 
the  writers  of  the  Bible  also  were  eye  witnesses  of  the  ancient 
scenes  they  described. 

The  increasing  immanence  of  God  in  the  socety  and  in  the  lit- 
erature will  account  for  the  miracles  found  in  the  narrative,  and 
will  describe  as  well  the  nature  of  a  miracle.  It  is  that  through 
which  a  supernatural  revelation  of  God  is  made  either  directly 
as  to  Abraham,  or  indirectly  as  by  Moses,  in  the  latter  case  it 
affords  the  sign  to  others  that  the  man  who  speakcs  or  acts  is 
the  authorized  messenger  of  God.  In  either  case  it  is  not  a 
setting  aside  the  laws  of  nature,  or  opposing  them,  as  it  is  not 
another  God  but  the  same  God  revealing  Himself  in  natural  law 
who  acts  in  the  miracle.  Only  in  the  case  of  the  miracle  there  is 
greater  power,  a  larger  immanence  of  God  in  this  particular 
case  then  in  the  natural  law.  The  natural  law  is  therefore  not 
only  the  background  but  the  basis  of  the  miracle.  God  is  in 
both,  only  there  is  more  of  God  in  the  miracle.  More  of  His 
immanence  constitutes  the  supernatural  revelation.  Miracles  are 
believed  therefore  not  because  in  the  Bible  record,  that  does  not 
account  for  the  original  belief  in  them,  it  only  records  it,  but 
because  of  the  evident  immanence  of  God  in  the  event.  We 
believe  them  in  our  day  because  of  sufficient  evidence.  This 
evidence  includes  the  original  self-evidence,  not  only,  but  the 
testimony  of  the  original  witnesses  and  the  record  of  the  results 
following  it.  There  is  manifestly  a  variety  of  such  evidence. 
Some  miracles  have  greater  proof  than  others;  some  seeming 
miracles  have  very  little,  if  any,  proof.  For  example,  the  Plagues 
of  Egypt  are  on  a  far  different  plain  from  the  story  of  Balaam's 
Ass.  The  first  are  suitable  to  the  supernatural  revelation  of 
God  made  to  two  great  nations,  are  witnessed  to  us  by  Moses 
and  other  eye  witnesses,  and  are  followed  by  results  that  cannot 


50  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

otherwise  be  accounted  for.  While  the  last  is  conflicting  with 
the  general  revelation  of  God,  is  witnessed  only  to  us  by  Balaam, 
a  questionable  character,  always  condemned  in  Scripture  refer- 
ences to  him,  and  is  followed  by  no  corresponding  result.  The 
inherent  probability,  the  truthful  witness-bearing  and  the  circum- 
stantial evidence  are  in  favor  of  the  one,  and  against  the  other. 

As  with  the  miracles,  so  with  the  sayings  and  events  in  the 
Bible  record.  The  principles  of  historical  investigation  must  be 
faithfully  applied  to  them  all.  The  thing  is  true  not  because  it 
is  stated  in  the  Bible,  but  because  the  Bible  evidence  fully  con- 
sidered confirms  it.  "Thou  shalt  not  surely  die"  needs  to  be  tested 
by  "Who  says  it?"  And  is  it  in  harmony  with  all  known  truth 
in  nature  and  revelation  ?  The  immanence  of  God  in  the  events 
and  in  the  narrative  itself  gives  ample  room  for  the  human  con- 
ception. The  human  conception  based  upon  the  supernatural 
revelation  of  God  may  not  be  always  in  full  harmony  with  it. 
Many  of  the  sayings  and  deeds  of  men  having  such  a  conception 
of  God  may  be  due  to  the  error  of  their  conception  rather  than 
to  the  supernatural  revelation  upon  which  it  is  based.  Many  of 
the  deeds  of  men  believing  themselves  to  be  acting  under  the 
special  direction  of  God  are  clearly  seen  to  be  entirely  out  of  har- 
mony with  His  character  and  will.  The  Bible  does  not  approve 
all  it  records,  its  faithfulness  to  truth  is  seen  in  the  recorded  evil 
of  some  of  its  noblest  men. 

When  all  this  is  acknowledged  it  remains  to  be  said  that  some 
events  connected  apparently  with  both  the  revelation  and  con- 
ception of  God,  seem  out  of  harmony  with  the  full  and  culmin- 
ating revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  two  principal 
events  of  this  character  however,  holding  large  sociological  data 
concerning  the  decadence  and  conflict  of  nations,  have  much 
light  thrown  upon  them  as  they  seem  to  be  in  harmony  with 
the  general  philosophy  of  history,  and  show  the  immanence  of 
God  in  administering  justice  among  nations.  The  first  is  the 
deliverance  of  the  Hebrews  from  Egypt,  involving  the  horrors 
of  the  plagues,  the  death  of  the  first  born,  the  spoiling  of  the 
people,   and   the  destruction   of  the  pursuing  army.     The   Egyp- 


BIBLE  HIGHER  CRITICISM  51 

tians  had  for  several  generations  held  the  Hebrews  in  bondage, 
a  cruel  slavery  of  long  enduring  horror  culminating  in  the  almost 
inconceivable  destruction  of  the  male  children.  The  fate  of  the 
Egyptians  was  clearly  in  the  nature  of  a  retribution.  Such  re- 
tributions are  frequent  in  the  history  of  nations;  standing  near  to 
us  in  point  of  time  and  contact  are  the  bloody  scenes  of  the 
French  Revolution,  the  destruction  of  the  Kings  and  of  the  nobles 
who  had  long  oppressed  the  people;  and  also  the  terrible  suf- 
ferings and  shedding  of  blood  in  our  own  Civil  War  which  re- 
sulted in  the  freeing  of  our  slaves  whom  we  had  held  in  slavery 
for  generations.  The  second  is  the  conquest  of  Canaan.  Whether 
God  had  ordered  the  extermination  of  the  Canaanites  or  only 
the  Hebrews  conceived  He  had,  may  be  the  subject  of  historical 
investigation,  the  fact  remains,  one  nation  took  possession  of 
the  land  belonging  to  another,  and  in  such  action  there  would 
naturally  be  great  harshness.  Such  conquests  are  however  fre- 
quent in  the  history  of  nations.  A  nation  is  incapable  of  advance, 
or  a  nation  becomes  corrupt  and  enters  upon  a  hopeless  decadence ; 
in  the  general  advance  of  the  race,  such  nations  are  conquered 
and  frequently  destroyed.  In  the  advance  to  our  high  civiliza- 
tion there  have  been  many  such  cases,  notably  the  over  running 
of  the  superior  but  corrupt  civilization  of  Rome  by  the  Goths, 
and  the  destruction  of  the  American  Indians  by  the  English. 
The  races  originally  inhabiting  Canaan  have  made  no  contribu- 
tion to  the  civilization  of  the  world,  the  Hebrews  have  con- 
tributed the  religion  and  the  social  advances  which  prevail  in 
the  highest  civilization  the  world  has  ever  known.  The  appar- 
ent favoritism  of  God  for  the  Hebrew  people  is  seen  in  the 
philosophy  of  history,  to  be  a  gracious  design  for  the  blessing 
of  the  whole  race,  just  as  today  his  apparent  favoritism  for  the 
Aryan  race  of  northern  Europe,  for  Crcrmany,  England  and 
America,  is  doubtless  a  gracious  design  for  the  further  blessing 
of  mankind. 


CHAPTER   V. 
The  Bible  and  the  Church  as  a  Social  Force. 

One  need  not  go  far  to  find  good  reasons  for  the  fact  that 
Bible  Sociology  is  now  for  the  first  time  coming  into  prominence. 
One  such  reason  has  already  been  considered,  sociology  is  itself 
a  new  science.  Scientific  investigation  has  only  in  recent  years, 
within  the  memory  of  many  now  living,  turned  its  attention  to 
the  facts  and  forces  of  society.  Society  has  existed  for  ages,  but 
it  has  not  been  scientifically  studied  until  in  our  day.  So  the 
society  of  the  Bible  has  been  a  matter  of  interest  to  earnest  stu- 
dents for  ages,  but  it  has  only  become  the  subject  of  special 
scientific  study  in  connection  with  the  science  of  sociology. 
Another  reason  is  that  the  Church  of  Christ  has  had  certain 
striking  features  of  her  life  and  work  drawn  out  into  prominence 
by  her  surroundings  during  the  successive  periods  of  her  long 
history.  All  these  features  have  been  present  in  all  ages,  but 
often  one  has  become  so  prominent  among  others  as  to  charac- 
terize the  age.  The  Church  has  had  her  government  forming 
age,  her  creed  making  age,  her  worship  developing  age.  Now 
the  prominent  feature  of  her  life  and  work  make  this  her  min- 
istering age.  She  has  always  loved  and  studied  the  Bible,  but 
she  would  naturally  in  her  government,  creed  and  worship  form- 
ing ages  pay  special  attention  to  the  distinctive  conception  of  God 
found  in  the  Bible.  Now  in  what  is  becoming  more  and  more 
her  ministering  age,  she  is  beginning  to  see  that  the  society  formed 
about  the  peculiar  conception  of  God  is  equally  distinctive  of  the 
Bible,  and  so  she  is  beginning  to  pay  special  attention  to  the  prin- 
ciples, laws  and  forces  of  this  society. 

Still  another  reason  is  that  the  world  looking  upon  the  Chris- 


THE  CHURCH  A  SOCIAL  FORCE  53 

tian  church  is  claiming  that  she  shall  show  not  only  what  to 
believe,  but  how  to  live.  This  practical  age  claims  that  religion 
shall  not  only  worship  God,  but  shall  minister  to  the  well  being 
of  man,  and  it  judges  the  sincerity  of  the  worship  by  the  earnest- 
ness and  wisdom  of  the  ministry.  It  is  also  widely  and  keenly 
intelligent  and  has  come  to  recognize  that  this  claim  is  not  dis- 
tinctively its  own,  but  is  that  of  the  Bible  itself.  So  instead  of 
spending  all  its  force  in  finding  fault  with  the  shortcomings  of 
the  Church,  it  is  beginning  to  spend  a  part  of  it  in  admiration  ot 
some  of  the  standards  and  principles  of  the  Bible.  Thus  the 
world-society  coming  into  consciousness  of  itself  is  beginning  to 
see  in  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  ideals  and  forces  of  vast 
interest.  This  new  view  of  the  Bible,  the  sociological  view,  is 
thus  engaging  the  attention  of  the  world.  This  of  course  stim- 
ulates the  Christian  Church,  already  awakening  to  the  interest  and 
importance    of    the    subject. 

These  reasons  show  not  only  why  Bible  Sociology  is  just  now 
coming  into  some  prominence,   but  they  also  give   much  ground 
for  believing  that  this  prominence  will  be  long  maintained,  and 
greatly  increased.     The  ministering  age  of  the  Church  is  dawning, 
it  bids  fair  to  grow  into  a  noon-day  strength  and  splendor,  and 
that  it  will  not  cease  until  the  Kingdom  of  God  takes  possession 
of  the  whole  earth.     The  Church  with  her  rich  attainments  of 
government,    creed   and   worship    is    now   becoming   conscious   of  /^ 
herself  as  a  social  force.     As  this  consciousness  grows  in  clearness 
and  strength,  she  recognizes  that  it  is  in  full  harmony  with  four 
great  truths  confirming  and  stimulating  it.     It  is  in  harmony  with     \ 
the  Bible,  her  standard  of  truth  and  duty,  of  belief  and  practice. 
It  is  in  harmony  with  her  own  nature,  and  influence  as  seen  in 
her  long  history  in  the  wonderful  changes  she  has  already  wrought 
though  unintentionally  and  often  unconsciously  in  the  society  of 
the  world.     It  is  in  harmony  with  her  missionary  calling  to  pro- 
claim and   establish   the  Gospel  of  the   Kingdom   in  all  heathen 
lands.     It  is  in  harmony  with  her  great  duty  of  transforming  the 
society   of   Christian   lands   into   that   of   the   Kingdom   of   God. 
Each   of   these   features   deserves   special   consideration;    the   first 


54  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

should  be  considered  now,  the  remaining  three  further  on  in  the 
evolution  of  the  subject. 

s:^  The  Church  as  a  social  force  is  in  harmony  with  Bible  truth 
and  duty.  The  Bible  as  giving  instruction  and  inspiration  to  the 
Church,  as  moulding  her  belief  and  life,  and  as  affording  her  a 
special  message  and  inspiration  to  the  world  is  as  much  sociolog- 
ical as  it  is  theological.  It  gives  a  progressive  revelation  of  God; 
this  revelation  is  to  be  faithfully  and  fully  received,  forming  a 
progressive  conception  of  God;  and  this  conception  of  God  forms 
around  itself  a  progressive  society  whose  special  characteristics  it 
inspires  and  cultivates  to  an  ever  increasing  control.  The  Church 
life  is  therefore  the  society  of  the  Bible  continued  beyond  Bible 
times,  the  peculiar  elements  and  living  spirit  of  the  Bible  give  the 
Church  life  its  general  outline  and  growing  force.  Who  ever 
reads  the  Bible  with  this  thought  in  mind  wnll  turn  over  page 
after  page  of  pure  sociology,  he  may  not  fully  accept  the  saying 
"Where  the  Bible  has  one  page  of  theolog)^  it  has  ten  pages  of 
sociology",  but  he  cannot  fail  to  see  much  ground  for  it.  He 
may  not  and  should  not  be  any  the  less  a  theologian,  but  he 
cannot  help  becoming  more  and  more  a  sociologist;  he  will  be 
"^impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  religion  of  the  Bible  has  its  man- 
ward  as  well  as  its  God-ward  side.  He  will  be  surprised  at  the 
amount  of  sociological  data  given  by  the  history  and  the  poetry  of 
the  Bible. 

,  He  will  be  surprised  as  well  at  the  large  amount  of  sociological 

instruction  given  by  the  great  teachers  of  the  Bible,  prophet 
matching  apostle  and  Jesus  Christ  excelling  all. 

J       Amos,  the  prophet  of  righteousness,  teaches  "to  establish  judg- 

'  ment  in  the  gate".  James,  the  disciple  of  righteousness  denounces 
the  "rich  for  the  hire  of  the  laborer  kept  back  by  fraud".  Micah, 
the  prophet  of  equality,  says  "religion  is  to  do  justly  and  love 
'  mercy".  Paul,  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  says  that  "love 
worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbor".  Jeremiah,  the  prophet  of  indi- 
vidualism, commands  "to  execute  judgment  between  a  man  and 
his  neighbor".  Peter,  the  impulsive  and  devoted  follower  of 
Christ,  forbids  that  any  one  should  "suffer  as  an  evil  doer  or  as 


THE  CHURCH  A  SOCIAL  FORCE  55 

a  busy  body  in  other  men's  matters".  Isaiah,  the  evangelical 
prophet,  exhorts,  ''cease  to  do  evil,  learn  to  do  well,  judge  the 
fatherless,  plead  for  the  v^^idow".  John,  the  beloved  disciple  says 
"hating  one's  brother  is  darkness".  In  Christ's  day  the  expres- 
sion, "The  law  and  the  prophets"  was  equivalent  to  "The  Bible" 
in  our  day,  it  referred  to  the  whole  Old  Testament.  Christ  said 
of  the  Golden  Rule:  "All  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  to  you,  do  you  so  to  them";  that  it  was  "the  law  and 
the  prophets".  The  New  Testament  comes  from  Christ.  He 
says  thus  in  effect,  that  the  Golden  Rule,  the  heart  of  sociology, 
is  the  whole  Bible.  Christ's  interest  is  not  alone  in  theological 
truths;  it  is  also  deeply  in  sociological  problems.  He  not  only 
seeks  the  salvation  of  the  individual  soul,  but  He  rules  this  indi- 
vidual as  a  social  being  for  the  salvation  of  society.  His  imme- 
diate aim  is  a  new  man.  Jiis  mediate  aim  is  a  new  church.  His 
ultimate  aim  is  a  new  society,  including  the  whole  race  of  man- 
kind. When  one  reads  the  preaching  addressed  to  the  men  of 
that  day  by  prophet,  apostle  and  Christ  himself,  he  cannot  help 
feeling  that  the  Church  should  address  the  same  kind  of  preaching 
to  the  men  of  this  day,  not  less  of  theology  than  at  present,  but  a 
great  deal  more  of  sociology;  something  concerning  the  transac- 
tions of  the  stock  exchange,  the  action  of  great  corporations,  the 
management  of  a  factory,  and  the  conduct  of  political  affairs. 
One's  imagination  does  not  have  to  take  a  vinld  flight  to  conceive 
Isaiah  and  Amos  preaching  today  upon  the  trials  and  tempta- 
tions of  shop  and  factory  girls,  this  does  not  seem  too  sensational, 
for  it  is  certainly  within  the  range  of  the  preaching  of  John  and 
Paul. 

The  Church  in  the  training  of  her  ministry  should  pa}'^  much 
attention  to  their  training  in  sociology'.  It  may  be  too  radical 
a  statement  that  "there  is  more  need  of  a  Sociological  Seminary 
than  there  is  of  a  Theological  Seminary",  but  there  is  much 
ground  for  the  claim  that  a  "Theological  Seminary  should  devote 
as  much  attention  to  Sociology  as  to  Theology".  The  young  man 
in  training  to  be  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel  should  have  a  general 
knowledge  of  the  elements  of  sociology  and  a  special  knowledge 

5 


'X 


56  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  the  sociology  of  the  Bible  since  a  large  part  of  his  life  work 
is  to  apply  the  latter  to  the  former.  The  study  of  human  nature 
surely  includes  the  social  nature,  the  study  of  individuals  in  order 
to  reach  them,  just  as  truly  the  study  of  society  in  order  to  reach 
it.  The  Church  as  a  social  force  is  the  society  of  believers  gath- 
ered so  closely  around  their  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  His  Spirit 
thrills  through  their  hearts  and  lives,  and  leads  them  to  carry  on 
His  work  of  ministry  in  the  world.  In  seeking  to  reach  individ- 
ual souls  and  to  reach  society  to  save  both,  her  distinctive  life 
and  message  are  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Her  distinctive  mes- 
sage is  thus  a  living  one,  her  force  is  a  social  force,  she  cannot 
be  content  to  preach  about  Christ,  she  must  live  the  Christ  she 
proclaims.  Neither  the  theology  nor  the  sociology  of  the  Bible 
can  abandon  the  other  without  itself  dying.  The  religion  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  is  both  theological  and  sociological,  it  brings 
the  truths  and  powers  of  the  spiritual  world  to  bear  upon  the 
material  world,  of  the  heavenly  life  upon  the  earthly  life,  of 
eternal  things  upon  temporal  things,  it  brings  God  and  mankind 
into  a  noble  society,  the  Great  Father  dwelling  with  His  Chil- 
dren and  making  them  a  Great  Brotherhood. 


PART  11.    THE  GENERAL  SOCIETY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Origin  of  Society. 

The  Hebrew  conception  of  the  race  of  man  found  at  the  begin- 
ning of  their  literature  was  that  it  came  from  one  head.  All  men 
of  whatever  nation,  tribe  or  family  were  descendants  of  one 
father  and  mother.  This  made  all  the  race  of  mankind  brothers, 
gave  to  all  equal  nobility  of  descent  and  equal  standing  in  respect 
to  their  inherent  nature.  This  conception  is  the  more  remarkable 
if  we  regard  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  as  of  late  origin  in 
their  history,  for  at  that  time  Hebrew  pride  had  attained  a  degree 
of  exclusiveness  and  contempt  for  "lesser  breeds  that  knew  not 
the  law"  that  certainly  could  not  have  originated  and  would 
hardly  have  accepted  such  a  conception.  Regarding  it  however  as 
one  of  the  earliest  traditions  or  documents  and  that  it  took  its 
present  form  at  the  hand  of  Moses,  or  that  it  was  directly  revealed 
to  Moses,  the  conception  underlies  all  their  after  developed  exclu- 
siveness and  is  preserved  in  a  form  to  rebuke  it.  A  further 
remarkable  conception  was  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  created  in 
the  image  of  God.  This  certainly  held  in  germ  the  thought  that 
God  was  the  real  Father  of  the  race.  This  is  clear  in  the  earliest 
statement  of  Genesis,  but  it  was  dim  in  the  whole  consciousness 
of  the  people  until  the  time  of  Christ,  a  glimpse  of  it  is  caught  now 
and  then  in  psalm  and  prophet,  only  seven  times,  I  think,  is  God 
spoken  of  as  Father  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  these  mainly  of 
the  Hebrew  race  alone,  but  the  original  germ  conception  is 
brought  out  in  its  full  clear  statement  by  Christ  in  the  prayer 
he  taught  mankind.    This  gives  the  idea  of  brotherhood  a  higher 


58  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

scope,  all  nations,  tribes  and  families  have  a  higher  nobility  of 
descent,  a  nobler  inherent  nature,  as  they  all  alike  have  not  only 
one  earthly  father,  Adam,  but  through  him  one  Heavenly  Father, 
God.  The  like-mindedness  of  man  with  man  which  is  the  basis  of 
society  comes  from  and  is  measured  by  the  like-mindedness  of  man 
with  God.  The  Brotherhood  of  man  comes  from  the  Fatherhood 
of   God. 

,  The  origin  of  society  lies  in  the  social  nature  of  man,  in  man  as 
a  complete  socius.  Herbert  Spencer  in  his  great  work,  "The 
Synthetic  Philosophy"  begins  his  three  volume  treatise  on  sociol- 
ogy with  an  elaborate  treatment  extending  over  many  pages  of 
the  factors  of  society.  He  enumerates  them  as  External,  land, 
climate,  flora,  fauna,  and  Internal,  primitive  man  physical,  emo- 
tional and  intellectual.  Whether  he  caught  the  classification  from 
the  Bible  or  not,  his  method  of  treatment  does  not  follow  it 
closely,  for  his  evolution  struggles  on  without  recognizing  the 
immanence  of  God.  The  Bible  says  the  first  society  starts  in  a 
well  watered  garden,  the  land,  the  climate,  the  flora  and  fauna 
r^  were  of  the  finest,  and  the  man  and  woman  in  physical  emotional 
and  intellectual  nature  are  highly  endowed. 
M  The  sociology  of  the  Bible  takes  large  account  through  all  its 
stages  of  what  Spencer  calls  the  external  as  well  as  the  internal 
factors  of  society.  However  gifted  man  may  be  in  all  social 
elements,  his  individual  existence  and  social  welfare  are  dependent 
upon  conditions  outside  of  himself  the  external  factors  of  land, 
climate,  flora  and  fauna.  Buckle  says  society  is  afiEected  by  four 
classes  of  physical  agents,  soil,  climate,  food  and  the  general 
aspects  of  nature ;  not  only  food  but  the  general  aspects  of  nature 
are  the  bread  that  sustains  and  moulds  society.  The  reason  for 
this  is  open  to  all,  man  is  a  part  of  the  earth  formation,  "the 
Lord  God  formed  him  of  the  dust  of  the  ground".  Man  is  the 
culmination  of  a  long  process  of  creation.  All  that  goes  before 
finds  its  full  meaning  and  satisfactory  end  in  man.  The  great 
procession  of  the  scenes  of  the  creation  of  the  earth  and  of  the 
myriad  forms  of  life  upon  it  found  in  the  first  chapters  of  Gene- 


ORIGIN   OF   SOCIETY  59 

sis,  ends  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  and  in  Adam  and  Eve  starting 
society  in  that  fair  scene. 

No  other  h'terature  has  anything  to  compare  with  the  sublimity 
and  truthfulness  of  the  Hebrew  account  of  creation.     The  Baby- 
lonian   hymn    is   a  contrast   rather   than    a  comparison,   with    its 
multitude  of  gods,  its  lack  of  orderly  progress  and  its  want  of 
harmony  with  the  teachings  of  science.     In  the  Bible  hymn  of 
creation  visions  of  the  successive  stages  of  the  great  evolution  pass 
before  us  in  the  same  order  as  the  record  of  their  succession  in 
the  heavens  and  in   the  earth  was  long  afterward  discovered   by 
the   researches  of  science.     Some  philosopher  of   the  doctrine  of 
chances  has  applied  that  theory  to  the  possibility  of  a  writer  of 
that  early  age  before  the  sciences  were  born,  and  without  divine 
aid,  sketching  so  many  stages  of  creation  in  the  same  succession 
as  science  has  now  discovered  and  describes,  and  he  contends  that 
the  chances  are  away  up  in  the  millions  of  some  glaring  discrep- 
ancy.     He   counts   fifteen   statements   in   the  proper  order:   with 
regard   to   the  first   two   the   chances   are  equal,   with   regard   to 
the     first     three     the     chances     are    one     to     six,     and     Moses 
somehow  struck  the  right  one,  with  regard  to  the  first  ten  there 
was  only  one  chance  in  three  million  six  hundred  thousand  and 
more,   and   Moses  struck  the  right  one,  when  you  come   to   the 
fifteenth  statement  in  the  right  order,  the  chance  is  one  to  1,307,- 
674)367,999»  and   Moses  somehow  struck  the  right  one,  strange 
to  say  the  whole  order  is  correct.     The  command  goes  forth  from 
one   God   whose   plan    unfolds    from    the   beginning.      The   first 
effect  of  the  diffused  matter  condensing  into  orderly  form  is  light, 
the  dawning  not  of  the  sun,  that  is  long  afterwards,  but  of  the 
widely  diffused   cosmic  light.      The  second  stage   is   the  gaseous 
partially  becoming  fluid  in  the  slowly  forming  globe  of  the  earth. 
The  third  stage  is  the  contracting  fluid  and  gaseous  globe  becom- 
ing fixed  in  form,  the  stiff  earth  into  dryland ;   with  its  oceans  and 
its  still  dense  gaseous  envelope.     Now  God  implants  the  lowest 
kind   of   life,    the   warm   moist   earth    teems   with    vegetation    so 
abundant  and  rank  that  it  clears  the  air  of  the  dense  gases  which 
have  shrouded   it,   and   prepares   for  other  orders  of  life.     The 


6o  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

fourth  stage  gives  us  from  the  earth  itself  for  the  first  time  through 
the  cleared  air  a  vision  of  its  magnificent  surroundings,  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars,  the  immense  universe  of  God  of  v^^hich  the  earth 
itself  is  a  part.  The  fifth  stage  shows  God  bringing  in  the  new 
life,  the  lower  forms  of  animal  life  in  water  and  air,  swarming  life 
it  might  well  be  called,  since  now  there  is  vegetable  food  prepared 
for  such  life  and  the  air  can  be  breathed  by  it,  and  it  can  in  its 
turn  prepare  the  air  and  food  for  higher  forms  of  life.  The  sixth 
stage  shows  God  bringing  in  the  higher  forms  of  life,  the  mam- 
malian life,  being  a  full  life  in  themselves,  and  in  their  successors 
as  well.  Now  also  God  creates  man.  the  highest  mammalian  life 
gifted  directly  by  God  himself  with  a  new  unheard  of  gift,  "like- 
ness to  Himself".  God  transcendent  over  all  becomes  imminent 
more  and  more  in  His  works  and  this  immanence  finds  its  highest 
manifestation  in  the  nature  of  man.  The  seventh  stage  which  is 
still  continuing  shows  God  resting  from  the  creative  work  of 
earth.  He  is  transcendent,  separate  from  and  above  His  work;  and 
ir>  that  resting  He  teaches  man  that  he  too  being  in  the  image  of 
God  cannot  be  confused  with  or  assimilated  in  his  work  but  is  in  a 
true  sense  separate  from  and  above  it. 

In  this  great  progression  each  stage  becomes  only  so  far  com- 
plete in  itself  that  it  forms  the  starting  point  for  the  next  stage, 
to  this  extent  lower  stages  may  coexist  in  time,  and  all  gained  in 
prior  stages  is  retained  and  further  advanced  in  the  next  stage. 
Man  may  have  thus  come  from  the  earth  itself  through  all  the 
successive  stages,  he  is  akin  to  the  animals  and  may  have  developed 
from  them,  but  he  is  distinct  from  them  in  his  higher  nature.  The 
social  nature  of  animals  is  rudimentary,  of  a  low  order,  still  it  is 
retained,  the  nature  evolved  needs  and  is  adapted  to  receive  the 
further  immanence  of  God  and  to  become  a  high  socius.  It  is  in 
the  likeness  to  his  real  Father  God  that  man's  social  nature  largely 
consists.  In  the  British  Museum  in  London  there  is  a  shelf  of 
sealed  glass  tubes  properly  labelled  which  contain  in  exact  pro- 
portion all  the  material  elements  necessary  to  the  formation  of  a 
man  weighing  one  hundred  and  seventy  pounds.  All  these  elements 
are  found  in  the  structure  of  the  earth.    More  wonderful  still,  most 


ORIGIN   OF  SOCIETY  6i 

of  these  elements  are  found  by  the  spectrum  in  the  sun  and  in  the 
distant  fixed  stars,  and  in  the  nebula  also.  Only  God  however 
could  put  them  together  into  a  living  man.  How  He  has  done  so 
He  has  not  told  us.  He  might  have  put  them  together  with  a 
flash;  but  He  is  never  in  haste;  that  was  not  His  way  in  the  lower 
stages  of  creation.  He  may  have  begun  the  process  when  He  issued 
the  first  sublime  command,  "Let  there  be  light",  and  have  con- 
tinued it  through  the  successive  stages  of  the  great  evolution  of 
His  plan  until  Adam  and  Eve  start  society  in  the  Garden  of  Eden. 
The  creation  of  Eve  from  Adam  goes  back  to  the  earliest  propaga- 
tion of  life  before  the  dawn  of  the  sexes,  to  the  process  of  division, 
and  it  is  brought  back  in  this  supreme  instance  in  the  ascending 
scale  of  life  to  emphasize  the  oneness  of  the  race  of  man,  from  a 
single  head.  The  distinguishing  characteristic  of  Adam  as  a 
socius  is  likeness  to  God.  Therefore  only  one  having  the  same 
likeness  could  by  any  possibility  be  a  true  companion  to  him.  It 
shows  that  the  social  nature  of  man  is  largely  in  the  likeness  to 
God,  and  intimates  the  place  of  woman  in  God's  plan.  She  is  ^ 
taken  as  the  equal,  the  help-meet  of  man,  not  from  his  head  to  be 
his  master,  nor  from  his  feet  to  be  his  slave,  but  from  his  side  to 
be  his  companion.  Adam  and  Eve  the  two  Socii  form  a  complete 
society.  It  was  after  the  fall  that  God  placed  her  in  subjection. 
"He  shall  rule  over  thee".  It  is  the  province  of  Christianity  to  do  j 
away  with  this,  and  all  the  effects  of  the  fall,  and  in  the  growing 
civilization  woman  is  more  and  more  rising  to  her  rightful  place, 
the  man  and  the  woman  are  the  true  and  equal  socii  in  the  coming 
society.  The  oneness  of  humanity  is  also  seen  in  the  man  and  the 
woman.  "They  shall  be  one  flesh",  the  manly  and  the  womanly 
qualities  are  combined  in  forming  a  fully  rounded  human  nature, 
each  is  a  fragment  without  the  other,  together  they  are  the  race  of 
mankind.  The  kinship  of  man  with  the  earth  and  its  living  beings 
frequently  finds  expression  in  the  views  of  poets  and  orators  of  the 
Bible.  Ps.  104  the  Song  of  the  Cosmos  and  Prov.  8,  the  Speech  of  >(^ 
Wisdom  are  examples. 

Another  striking  statement  in  the  beginning  of  Hebrew  literature    v^ 
is  that  God  who  has  thus  created  man  in  His  own  likeness  has  a 


62  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

deep  interest  in  him  and  in  all  that  concerns  him.  His  interest  in 
man  is  seen  to  be  far  different  from  His  general  interest  in  His 
creative  work.  He  holds  communication  with  man  and  therein 
secures  the  development  of  man's  nature.  Since  man  is  created  in 
the  likeness  of  God  he  is  capable  of  having  fellowship  with  God, 
in  reading  His  thoughts  in  the  nature  about  him,  and  is  capable 
also  of  still  more  direct  and  complete  companionship  with  God, 
if  He  should  make  further  communications  to  him.  Thus  this 
highest  being  in  the  great  creation  of  the  earth,  man,  has  before  him 
an  evolution  of  all  his  powers  to  an  inconceivable  degree,  a  grow- 
ing of  "the  likeness  of  God"  itself  in  that  he  is  especially  under 
the  care  and  teaching  and  training  of  his  Father  God.  God  is  the 
Father  of  the  race  not  only  in  the  sense  of  origin  but  in  the  sense  of 
interest  and  feeling.  He  is  an  affectionate  Father.  This  feature 
of  the  primal  revelation  of  God  as  an  affectionate  Father  of  the 
human  race  is  entirely  absent  from  all  other  religions.  We  have 
the  idea  of  origin  and  authority  in  Zeus  of  the  Greeks,  in  Jupiter 
of  the  Romans,  the  father  of  gods  and  men,  but  we  can  find  no 
trace  of  affectionate  father-hood  in  those  religions.  The  idea  of 
God  as  an  affectionate  Father,  though  present  at  the  beginning 
of  their  religion  was  not  largely  or  clearly  grasped  in  the  conception 
of  the  Hebrew  people,  but  was  fully  brought  out  in  the  culmina- 
tion of  the  life  and  teachings  of  Christ. 

We  can  now  clearly  distinguish  six  elements  in  this  elemental 
man,  in  this  primeval  and  complete  socius  at  the  head  of  the  Primi- 
tive Societ)^  of  the  Bible:  First,  he  is  a  religious  being.  He  has 
a  sense  of  God,  and  of  possible  companionship  with  Him.  He  is  to 
that  extent  conscious  of  his  likeness  to  God  that  he  recognizes 
His  existence  and  presence,  and  experiences  some  communication 
with  Him.  Second,  he  is  an  intelligent  being.  He  has  a  higher 
intelligence  than  the  animals  in  that  he  has  the  power  of  speech, 
of  language,  with  all  that  implies.  He  not  only  sees  things  but 
has  the  power  to  abstract  certain  qualities,  consider  these  by  them- 
selves, form  them  into  classes,  and  then  put  an  articulate  sound 
upon  them  that  will  fix  the  classification  in  mind  and  express  it 
to  others  and   preserve  it   for  future  generations.     God  brought 


ORIGIN  OF  SOCIETY  63 

this  power  into  exercise,  the  wonderful  power  of  abstraction  issuing 
in  language,  when  he  brought  the  animals  to  him  to  see  what  he 
would  call  them;  what  name  he  would  give  them.  Articulate 
speech  is  not  the  main  feature  of  language,  it  is  the  power  of  ab- 
straction which  voices  itself  in  speech.  A  child,  if  untaught,  would 
thus  form  its  own  language  today.  This  power  of  communicating 
freely  with  each  other  is  of  vast  value  to  man's  social  nature. 

The  third  element  is  that  he  is  a  moral  being.  By  the  exercise  Y 
of  his  free  will  he  may  choose  to  obey  or  disobey  the  command 
of  God.  He  has  the  power  of  experiencing  good  and  evil,  of  dis- 
cerning right  and  wrong.  In  the  exercise  of  this  freedom  of  choice 
he  may  pass  from  innocence  to  a  virtue  more  and  more  confirmed 
by  obedience  to  the  right,  or  he  may  sink  to  sin  and  vice  by  diso- 
bedience to  God,  by  casting  off  the  sense  of  obligation,  by  repeated 
choices  of  the  wrong.  Without  intruding  upon  the  realm  of 
theology,  the  fall  of  Adam  has  vast  sociological  bearing.  We 
cannot  minimize  It  and  there  is  no  need  to  magnify  it,  the  sole  aim 
should  be  to  understand  it.  Adam  did  not  fall  from  anything  like 
civilization;  that  can  only  be  the  result  of  long  associated  action, 
the  laws  and  customs,  the  arts  and  Institutions  of  society.  Adam 
did  not  fall  from  a  fully  rounded  manhood;  that  can  only  come 
from  long  and  wide  experience  In  all  the  relations  of  society.  Adam 
did  not  fall  from  virtue ;  that  too  can  only  come  from  contact  with 
a  many  sided  environment  and  with  one's  fellows  In  varied  social 
action.  Adam  is  said  to  have  had  "knowledge,  righteousness  and 
true  holiness" ;  this  was  in  endowment.  In  capacity  only,  it  might 
be  strengthened,  confirmed  and  enlarged  by  exercise,  by  a  series  of 
varied  experiences  into  a  fully  rounded  virtuous  manhood.  Adam 
fell  from  moral  innocency  into  moral  perversity;  this  was  con- 
firmed by  succeeding  like  experiences;  this  descended  to  his  children 
by  the  laws  of  heredity ;  this  is  experienced  by  the  race  of  mankind 
today;  we  are  moral  beings  but  we  have  fallen  Into  moral  per- 
versity. The  psychology  of  the  trial,  the  temptation  and  the  fall  of 
Adam  Is  true  to  the  moral  and  social  nature  of  man.  It  shows 
how  each  sin,  the  first  and  all  the  long  series  up  to  the  last  sin  of 
all,  is  disobedience  to  a  clearly  understood  law  of  God,  is  the  act 


64  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  the  will  choosing  wrongly,  is  a  yielding  to  temptation ;  how  all 
sins  are  linked  together  one  leading  to  another  and  confirming  the 
perversity,  and  how  all  men  are  related  to  each  other  through 
heredity  and  their  social  nature.  In  the  evolution  of  sin 
there  was  an  advance  in  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
but  also  a  deterioration  of  the  physical,  mental  and  moral  nature; 
of  the  whole  social  nature  of  man.  The  first  sin,  like  all  sin,  leads 
to  the  absence  of  the  highest  life,  that  is,  to  death. 

The  fourth  element  is  the  power  of  changing  his  environment. 
An  animal  conforms  to  environment,  his  continued  existence 
depends  largely  upon  this  power.  Man  shares  to  a  considerable 
extent  this  power  with  the  animals.  Man  in  addition  has  a  vast 
power  of  conforming  the  environment  to  himself.  This  shows 
in  all  the  history  of  man  upon  the  earth,  and  more  than  a  hint 
of  it  is  given  in  the  beginning  of  society  in  the  Bible  record.  In 
the  development  of  society  the  earth  itself  upon  which  man  dwells 
has  vast  influence  as  man  learns  of  the  earth  and  adapts  himself 
to  it  not  only  but  as  he  grasps  the  power  of  adapting  it  to  him- 
self. This  he  does  as  a  socius,  not  as  a  lone  individual,  but  with 
the  united  efforts  of  his  companions  he  advances  in  all  that  can 
come  from  the  earth.  We  grant  inventions  to  the  inventor  today 
by  patents,  but  only  for  a  short  time,  and  hardly  a  single  inven- 
tor achieves  alone,  he  draws  upon  his  fellows,  and  soon  the  forces 
of  steam  and  electricity,  of  falling  water  and  blowing  wind  belong 
unto  society.  Man  differs  from  animals  in  that  he  alone  can 
work  a  change  in  his  environment;  they  cannot  change  the  earth 
at  all  but  he  can  "dress  it,  and  keep  it"  he  can  "subdue  it,  and 
have  dominion  over  it."  This  power  follows  the  moral  and  relig- 
ious element.  Had  man  advanced  from  innocence  to  virture  he 
would  have  had  larger  knowledge  and  control  over  his  environ- 
ment. Even  then  thoughtful  care  and  constant  industry  would 
have  been  his  relation  to  his  dwelling  place,  he  was  put  into  the 
Garden  "to  dress  it  and  keep  it."  But  man  choose  otherwise, 
and  now  his  knowledge  and  control  over  nature  are  to  be  attained 
with  greater  eflfort.  "The  likeness  of  God,"  the  basis  of  society 
must  now  be  exercised   and   developed   in   relation   to  the   earth 


ORIGIN   OF  SOCIETY  65 

Itself  and  all  ft  can  give,  in  recovery  of  virtue  and  perfection. 
His  nature  still  calls  him  to  "subdue  the  earth  and  have  dominion 
over  it,"  still  calls  him  to  learn  of  all  its  subtile  forces  and 
grasp  them,  to  rule  by  obeying  God  in  nature,  and  so  to  rule  with 
God.  The  virtue  of  industry  is  a  fundamental  virtue  in  society. 
To  do  something  worthy,  for  the  well  being  of  all,  is  the  way  to 
regain  Paradise  on  the  earth. 

The  fifth  element  is  the  power  of  heredity.  The  socius  gives 
all  his  distinguishing  characteristics  to  his  descendants.  The 
primal  command  written  upon  the  nature  of  man  is  "to  be  fruit- 
ful and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth."  Eve  means  life.  She 
is  the  mother  of  all  living;  man,  male  and  female,  is  to  live  on 
the  earth  in  successive  generations.  The  solidarity  of  the  race  is 
a  matter  of  heredity,  the  race  is  intelligent,  moral,  religious  and 
controlling,  whenever  found  the  wide  world  over. 

The  sixth  element  is  the  capacity  of  holding  the  likeness  of 
God.  It  is  so  characteristic  of  man,  such  an  element  in  him 
that  it  cannot  be  destroyed,  and  he  remain  in  any  true  sense  a 
man.  It  may  be  degraded,  blurred,  warped,  as  we  all  know  it  has 
been,  that  is  one  of  the  marked  features  of  heredity,  but  it  also 
may  be  restored  and  may  attain  its  original  clearness,  and  a  bright- 
ness even  far  beyond  that  it  first  possessed ;  and  in  attaining  these, 
heredity  must  have  a  great  part.  The  promise  of  recovery  is  in 
this  indestructibility,  the  everlasting  struggle  between  the  like- 
ness of  God  and  the  principle  of  evil.  God  told  the  serpent  in  the 
beginning  that  he  had  placed  a  conflict  between  him  and  the  seed 
of  the  woman ;  that  he  had  not  conquered,  and  moreover  that  he 
could  not.  The  actual  race  has  still  the  possibility  of  becoming 
the  ideal  race,  society  may  become  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

In  the  development  of  society  there  is  a  possibility  of  a  division 
along  the  line  of  recovery,  some  portion  advancing  from  the  rest; 
but  this  advance  if  real  must  be  in  the  "likeness  of  God;"  and 
so  must  be  for  the  uplifting  of  the  rest.  In  the  early  revealing 
of  God's  plan  of  selecting  a  portion  of  the  race  for  restoration, 
the  portion  was  selected  not  to  separate  from  and  desert  the 
rest,  but  in  order  to  best  convey  the  restoration  to  the  rest,  to 


66  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  whole  race.  The  great  truth  of  the  "likeness  of  God"  in 
mankind,  of  the  brotherhood  of  the  race  was  in  the  call  of  Abra- 
ham out  of  his  kindred,  for  the  purpose  of  making  "him  a  bless- 
ing." "In  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 
This  early  conception,  though  it  grew  faint  in  the  Hebrews  in 
their  selfish  pride,  was  never  entirely  lost,  it  was  brought  out 
clearly  by  Christ,  and  should  always  be  bright  in  His  people. 
The  recovery  must  manifestly  be  in  the  further  immanence  of 
God  taking  place  in  the  mankind  He  had  already  created  in  His 
likeness. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Primitive  Society. 

The  Bible  gives  us  glimpses  of  the  primitive  society  unfold- 
ing from  this  elemental  man,  the  complete  socius,  from  Adam  and 
Eve,  the  father  and  mother  of  the  race.  The  Hebrew  literature 
is  peculiar  among  the  literatures  of  the  world  in  that  it  gives 
this  sane  and  connected  account  of  the  earliest  society.  Sociology 
aside  from  this  account,  in  its  research  for  the  nature  and  forma- 
tion of  primitive  society  is  confined  to  other  sources  than  liter- 
ature, to  remains  of  tools,  vestiges  of  languages,  to  relics  of  cus- 
toms, remnants  of  habits,  and  to  probabilities  and  suppositions 
from  the  conditions  of  certain  portions  of  the  race  existing  today. 
It  can  find  in  the  Bible  account  many  features  of  rare  interest 
well  worth  its  careful  study,  though  largely  differing  from  the 
traditions  of  other  nations,  and  from  its  own  theories  of  what 
primitive  society  must  have  been.  The  account  is  concise,  the 
narrative  is  rapid,  the  description  is  fragmentary,  the  statements 
are  bold,  but  the  sense  of  reality  is  clear  and  the  strong  outlines 
of  the  early  society  of  the  race  stand  vividly  before  us. 

Five  features  are  easily  distinguished.  The  first  is  that  of 
Locality.  The  physical  basis  of  society  has  proper  attention  paid 
to  it,  and  its  locality  was  suitable  to  the  society  described.  The 
climate  is  warm  and  genial,  fitted  to  primitive  man  in  his  first 
attempts  at  living.  The  region  is  the  northern  tropic  zone,  east 
and  north  of  nearby  great  seas.  The  land  is  fruitful,  the  plains 
of  great  rivers,  bordered  with  hills.  The  flora  and  fauna  are 
both  abundant  and  useful.  It  is  no  longer  a  garden,  man  has 
forfeited  that,  but  it  is  capable  of  being  made  a  garden  by  suitable 
industry.     Not  the  frozen  north,  not  the  storm  swept  coast,  not 


68  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

the  interminable  forest,  not  the  rugged  mountain,  not  the  dry- 
desert,  but  rich,  well  watered  river  bottoms,  formed  the  home  of 
this  primitive  society.  Historical  research  while  it  has  followed 
many  seeming  clues  in  other  directions  has  concluded  that  the 
earliest  civilization  arose  in  the  Valley  of  the  Euphrates,  the  local- 
ity of  the  Bible's  primitive  society.  While  this  first  home  of 
society  was  not  harsh  and  fierce,  threatening  its  early  destruction, 
while  it  was  favorable  to  its  first  weak  developments,  to  the 
empty  hands  of  its  first  co-operative  industry,  it  still  had  enough 
sterness  to  call  out  earnest  effort  and  to  awaken  the  attempt  to 
struggle  for  the  mastery  of  some  of  nature's  forces.  Civilization 
is  the  result  of  man's  discontent  with  being  empty  handed  in  the 
presence  of  nature,  of  his  cautious  but  bold  interference  with 
nature's  ordinary  workings.  Our  arts  and  sciences  are  the  result 
of  man's  warfare  with  nature,  of  man's  wanting  more  than 
nature's  unaided  forces  provide,  of  his  defending  himself  against 
some  of  her  assaulting  forces.  In  the  locality  of  this  primitive 
society  there  was  a  happy  mingling  of  nature's  smiles  and  frowns; 
all  smiles  would  enervate  the  early  life  of  man ;  all  frowns  would 
have  crushed  it;  mingled  smiles  and  frowns  set  it  on  its  way  to 
enduring  existence  and  to  a  high  civilization. 

The  second  feature  is  that  of  Time.  Co-existence  in  the  same 
territory  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  secure  the  development 
in  numbers  from  a  single  father  and  mother,  and  in  the  com- 
plexity of  the  society  described,  is  fully  stated  in  the  account. 
It  is  evident  there  were  many  centuries  from  Adam  to  Abraham, 
but  the  exact  number  is  not  stated.  There  is  no  attempt  made 
in  the  concise  narrative  to  give  us  the  date  of  the  creation  of 
Adam.  The  date  of  the  beginning  of  the  race  of  man  is  not 
known.  Dr.  William  H.  Green,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  con- 
servative Hebrew  scholars,  says:  "The  Scriptures  furnish  no  date 
for  chronology  prior  to  the  life  of  Abraham."  When  it  is  said 
in  Gen.  5  :g  e.  g.  "that  Enos  lived  ninety  years  and  begat  Kenan", 
the  well  established  usage  of  the  word  begat  makes  this  statement 
equally  true  whether  Kenan  was  the  immediate  or  the  remote 
descendant  of  Enos,  that  is  whether  Kenan  was  then  born  or  the 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  69 

ancestor  of  Kenan,  one  from  whom  he  was  born,  with  no  hint 
of  the  number  of  intervening  ancestors.  The  structures  of  the 
genealogies  in  Gen.  5,  10  and  11  favors  the  belief  that  they  do 
not  register  all  the  names  in  their  respective  lines  of  descent. 
They  were  not  given  to  indicate  chonology  but  simply  a  line  of 
descent.  These  long  lists  of  names  whether  we  regard  them  as 
names  of  individuals  or  of  clans,  are  not  chronological  but  genea- 
logical. The  time  limits  given  in  the  account  make  it  quite 
evident  that  many  centuries  passed  by  while  primitive  society  was 
forming.  There  is  room  enough,  and  not  a  few  indications  as 
we  shall  soon  see,  for  the  reasonable  claims  of  the  stone  age  and 
the  bronze  age.  At  the  same  time  it  is  apparent  that  the  period 
of  man  upon  the  earth  is  very  short  when  compared  with  the 
geological  ages,  it  may  better  be  estimated  in  thousands  rather 
than  in  millions  of  years.  The  dim  ranks  of  the  race  of  man 
emerge  from  the  mists  of  a  near  by  past. 

This  also  is  the  most  reasonable  conclusion  of  science  concern- 
ing the  antiquity  of  man  on  the  earth.  Indications  are  many 
that  he  existed  at  the  close  of  the  last  glacier  age  in  the  northern 
continents.  How  long  ago  that  was  cannot  be  definitely  settled, 
but  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  theories  for  its  existence  would 
make  its  close  not  over  fifteen  thousand  years  ago,  more  probably 
about  twelve  thousand.  The  earth  has  one  motion,  not  easily 
discovered,  the  swaying  of  the  North  Pole,  tracing  a  great  circle 
around  the  north  star,  which  occasions  its  great  year,  this  motion 
is  completed  in  twenty-five  thousand  years.  This  movement  makes 
the  rays  of  the  sun  fall  more  and  more  obliquely  upon  the  northern 
hemisphere  for  twelve  thousand  years  increasing  the  length  and 
severity  of  the  w^inters  until  they  culminate  in  the  creeping  down 
from  the  north  of  the  glaciers,  the  accumulation  of  snow  and 
ice  over  the  land.  This  together  with  certain  other  movements, 
as  the  lengthening  and  shortening  of  the  ellipse  of  the  earth,  and 
the  motions  of  sister  planets,  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the  glacier 
age  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  is  the  best  reason  for  its  existence. 
The  last  glacier  age  must  have  closed  much  less  than  twenty 
thousand  years  ago,  probably  its  vestiges  of  the  ice  envelop  passed 


70  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

away  about  twelve  thousand  years  ago.  In  accord  with  this  are 
the  more  recent  calculations  upon  the  recovered  histories  of  the 
civilizations  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile.  The  wild  calcula- 
tions have  been  discarded  and  from  eight  to  ten  centuries  before 
Christ  are  now  regarded  as  the  probable  birth  days  of  their 
national  life. 

The  third  feature  is  that  of  Endowment.  The  Bible  gives 
no  hint  of  primitive  society  emerging  from  the  condition  of  the 
brutes;  it  is  from  the  beginning  much  above  anything  remotely 
resembling  the  brute  condition ;  it  is  even  above  the  condition  of 
savagery  in  which  some  portions  of  the  race  are  found  on  the 
earth  today.  Evolution  recognizes  that  man  in  his  anatomical 
structure  is  akin  to  the  animals,  that  man  may  have  been  evolved 
from  the  animals  reaching  up  from  lowest  forms  through  the 
ascending  series  to  an  animal  nearly  like  man.  Evolution  today 
holds  that  while  many  changes  in  the  ascending  forms  of  life  have 
been  wrought  by  the  insensible  stages  of  long  and  gradual  develop- 
ment, many  marked  advances  and  great  changes  have  been  made 
also  by  mutation,  by  a  jump  to  a  much  higher  form,  by  the  sud- 
den coming  up  of  a  freak  or  sport ;  and  that  this  first  being  of  its 
kind  has  been  preserved,  and  become  a  fixed  form  in  successive 
generations  under  favorable  conditions;  thus  man  may  have  arisen 
by  mutation.  Besides  theistic  and  Christian  evolution  holds 
that  God  when  He  made  man  in  His  own  likeness,  worked 
such  a  change  in  him  that  he  became  at  once  different  from  the 
animals  in  many  particulars ;  that  he  was  at  once  lifted  out  of 
the  brute  condition  and  became  a  full  orbed  socius.  God  is  above 
nature,  God  is  also  in  nature  and  His  being  in  nature  is  in  ever 
greater  degree  as  his  great  plan  of  evolution  is  worked  out;  first 
order,  then  life,  then  higher  life,  then  man's  life.  The  order  is 
based  upon  the  atom,  the  life  upon  the  order,  the  animal  life  upon 
the  vegitable  life,  man's  life  upon  the  animal  life;  but  at  each 
stage  of  the  greater  immanence  of  God  there  is  a  wonderful  change 
wrought  upon  the  prior  condition,  which  cannot  be  confused  with 
it.  The  living  cell  cannot  be  confused  with  the  dead  crystal,  the 
sentient  life  cannot  be  confused  with  the  vegetable  life,  and  man 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  71 

cannot  be  confused  with  the  animal.  Man  wherever  known  has 
an  intelligent,  moral,  religious  and  social  nature  which  lifts  him 
above  the  animal.  If  the  rudimentary  gills  found  in  his  throat 
seem  to  indicate  that  he  is  a  descendant  of  the  fish,  the  rudimen- 
tary faith  found  in  every  human  heart  much  more  proves  that 
he  is  a  child  of  God. 

This  God  made  change  is  so  great  that  it  worked  a  corre- 
sponding change  upon  the  structure  of  man.  There  are  socio- 
logists who  miminize  God  or  leave  Him  out  of  the  evolution  of 
man  and  of  society;  but  like  all  scientists  of  that  kind  there  are 
many  great  breaks  in  the  process  which  they  are  powerless  to 
explain.  In  sociology  for  instance  the  emergence  of  society  from 
the  brute  has  left  no  trace  in  history  and  no  example  in  the  present ; 
the  presence  of  savagery  is  more  easily  explained  as  a  decadence 
than  as  the  basis  of  society,  and  even  man's  physical  structure 
shows  no  steps  of  gradual  separation  from  the  brute  condition 
in  the  present,  or  any  vestiges  of  it  in  the  past.  L.  F.  Ward, 
author  of  Pure  Dynamic  and  Applied  Sociology'  saj's — "That 
some  ape-like  animal  developed  into  a  man ;  that  the  paleolithic 
troglodyte  rose  through  various  stages  of  savagery  and  barbar- 
ism to  civilization  and  enlightenment,  are  simple  facts  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  planet.  How  enormous  were  the  transformations? 
How  immense  the  periods  to  effect  them?"  Immense  periods 
are  required  for  the  ape  to  go  through  the  enormous  transforma- 
tions to  the  stone  age  cave  dweller,  and  for  the  cave  dweller  to 
become  the  civilized  man.  Far  more  time  required  than  any 
reasonable  theory  of  the  glacier  age  will  give.  The  most  satis- 
factory theory  of  the  glacier  age  gives  no  immense  period  at  all. 
Besides  such  a  general,  widespread,  enormous  transformation  going 
on  through  an  immense  period  of  time  like  a  geological  age,  must 
have  left  some  record  of  itself;  but  the  earth  does  not  carry  on 
its  broad  bosom  any  such  record.  Then  also  the  transition  from 
the  ape  to  the  cave  dwellers  should  have  left  some  living  instances 
or  some  relics  of  dead  transition  forms;  but  the  earth  has  been 
searched    in   vain    for   the    "missing   link."      That   phrase   hardly 

6 


72  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

represents  the  need ;  it  is  not  a  single  link  but  a  great  chain  of 
links  that  is  missing.    This  earth  is  encrusted  with  graves. 

"All  that  tread 

"The  globe  are  but  a  handful  to  the  tribes 

"That  slumber  in  its  bosom." 

But  not  only  is  it  "The  great  tomb  of  man;"  it  is  the  burial 
place  of  the  countless  beings  of  the  lower  orders  of  life  which 
have  dwelt  upon  the  earth  during  the  long  ages  of  its  life  bearing 
conditions;  but  no  skull  of  any  being  of  the  necessarily  long  series 
of  beings,  between  an  ape  and  a  man  has  ever  been  unearthed. 

The  comparative  size  of  the  brain  and  body  in  man  and  in 
other  animals  existing  today  is  marked.  The  size  of  the  brain 
compared  with  the  body  of  fishes  is  as  one  to  one  thousand.  In 
that  prolific  form  of  life  this  is  the  highest  average  attainment, 
in  the  tunny  fish  it  is  one  to  thirty-seven  thousand,  hardly  any 
brain  at  all  in  the  lowest  swarming  life  of  the  seas.  In  birds 
it  is  one  to  one  hundred,  this  is  the  highest  average  attainment, 
the  eagle  one  to  one  hundred  and  sixty,  the  pigeon  one  to  one 
hundred.  In  mammals  it  is  one  to  two  hundred,  the  highest 
average,  in  the  sheep  it  is  only  one  to  three  hundred  and  fifty. 
In  man  the  size  of  the  brain  compared  with  the  body  is  one  to 
fifty.  There  is  very  little  difference  in  the  size  of  the  brain  in 
the  various  divisions  of  the  race  of  man.  The  average  European 
brain  weighs  about  fifty  ounces,  it  is  believed  the  average  African, 
Australian  and  Oceanic  brain  weighs  about  four  ounces  less  than 
the  European.  The  Chinese  brain  about  equals  the  European. 
The  only  animals  whose  brain  outweighs  man's  are  those  of  im- 
mense size,  the  elephant's  brain  weighs  ten  pounds,  the  whale's 
weighs  five  pounds.  The  Siminae  are  creatures  the  most  like  man 
of  all  the  apes,  and  so  are  called  the  anthropoid  apes,  they  are 
the  orang,  the  chimpanze,  the  gorilla  and  the  gibbon.  The  gorilla 
is  the  largest  ape  known,  it  is  from  five  to  seven  feet  tall  and  in 
bulk  of  body  is  considerably  larger  than  man,  but  his  brain  weighs 
scarcely  one  third  of  man's  brain. 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  73 

But  it  is  in  the  kind  of  brain  rather  than  in  mere  size  that  man 
differs  from  the  animals.     The  comparative  size  of  the  brain  to 
the  whole  nerve  system  in  man  and  in  other  animals  indicates  w^hat 
the  brain  is  in  man.     It  is  the  tent  of  the  Commander  in  Chief 
to  which  messages  are  brought  where  they  are  carefully  considered 
and  from  which  commands  are  sent  forth.     Brains  of  animals  are 
more  like  telephone  central  stations,  where  messages  from  some 
parts  of  the  body  are  received  and  sv/itched  over  to  other  parts 
or  sent  back,  the  consideration  of  the  Commander  in  Chief's  tent 
is   lacking,    they   are   more   automatic   in   action.      The   brain   in 
fishes  is  only  one  seventh  of  the  entire  nerve  system.     The  brain 
in  birds  is  five  times  the  size  of  the  rest  of  the  nerve  system;  in 
mammals  it  is  three  times  the  size  of  the  nerve  system.    The  brain 
in  man  is  thirty  times  the  size  of  the  rest  of  the  nerve  system. 
The  outside  layer  of  the  brain^  the  cortex  is  made  up  of  nerve 
cells,  the  inner  part  of  the  brain  is  made  up  of  nerve  fibers.     In 
man  the  cortex  is  much  larger  than  in  animals,  the  convolutions 
give  a  larger  surface  space,  and  the  layer  of  cells  is  also  thicker, 
and  this  is  specially  the  case  in  the  frontal  regions  where  the  power 
of   consideration   chiefly    resides.      Man   is   the   only   animal    the 
frontal  region  of  whose  brain  requires  a  real  forehead.     In  ana- 
tomical features  man  is  like  the  animals,  but  in  this  culminating 
part  of  sentient  life  he  is  like  and  yet  unlike  the  animals.     He  has 
a  brain  as  they  have,  but  it  is  a  much  larger  and  far  different  brain 
than  theirs.     Now  between  their  brains  and  his  there  is  no  evi- 
dence in  past  forms,  or  in  present  forms  of  any  transition  stages. 
When  God  created  man  in  his  own  likeness  he  may  have  selected 
the  finest  specimen  of  animal,  or  this  intelligent  Evolver  may  have 
specially  evolved   a  highly  deveolped   freak  as  man  himself   does 
now  in   some  of   his  experiments,   as  the  basis  for   the  superim- 
posed  higher  life;   but  even   then   the  gift  of   His  own  likeness 
worked  a  marvelous  change  and  prepared  a  form  capable  of  being 
its  dwelling  place.     Thus  a  large  consideration   of  all   the  evi- 
dences in  vestiges  of  the  past  and  in  forms  of  the  present  indicates 
that  man  started  out  a  full  man,  and  that  the  first  society  was  this 
full  orbed  socius  feeling  his  way  to  co-operative  life,  making  a 


74  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

first  experiment  with  his  untried  powers ;  but  with  all  his  inexperi- 
ence and  ignorance  even  of  his  own  powers  as  well  as  of  his 
surroundings  he  was  already  widely  distinguished  from  the  brutes. 
It  deserves  also  to  be  said  that  all  man's  development  within 
historical  records  and  all  the  development  that  now  seems  possible 
to  man  is  in  the  brain.  The  rest  of  the  nerve  system  seems  to  have 
reached  its  acme,  perhaps  in  some  respects  to  have  passed  it,  but 
the  consideration  center  of  the  brain  shows  no  sign  of  full  attain- 
ment. 

The  endowment  of  primitive  societ}'  consisting  in  man  being 
a  complete  socius,  is  seen  further  and  markedly  in  the  relation  of 
the  sexes.  The  closest  and  most  influential  companionship  is 
between  man  and  woman.  They  exist  in  about  equal  numbers, 
they  are  complements  of  each  other  in  many  qualities  and  they 
are  capable  of  having  a  strong  passion  for  each  other.  The  regu- 
lation of  the  relationship  based  upon  the  sexes  is  always  a  con- 
trolling factor  in  the  welfare  of  any  particular  society.  The 
subject  will  command  full  attention  when  we  come  to  the  laws 
and  customs  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  grouped  about 
the  revelation  of  God,  and  to  their  bearing  upon  some  of  the 
important  problems  of  society  today.  In  this  primitive  society 
we  see  the  pairing  of  the  race  in  single  pairs,  with  the  indication 
of  a  tendency  for  a  man  to  have  more  than  one  wife,  and  this 
tendency  springing  up  in  connection  with  violence  among  the 
males,  resulting  in  death.  The  first  bit  of  poetry  found  in  the 
Bible,  probably  the  earliest  bit  of  poetry  in  the  world's  literature, 
is  called  the  sword  song  of  Lamech,  it  contains  the  first  mention 
of  more  than  one  wife  though  it  refers  to  an  earlier  instance  of 
violence. 

"Adah  and  Zillah  hear  my  voice 

"Ye  wives  of  Lamech  hearken  to  my  speech; 

"For  I  have  slain  a  man  for  wounding  me; 

"And  a  young  man  for  bruising  me. 

"If  Cain  shall  be  avenged  sevenfold, 

"Truly  Lamech  seventy  and  sevenfold." — Gen.  4:23-4. 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  75 

President  Jordan  has  shown  that  war  tends  in  some  aspects  to 
race  decadence.  Fitting  naturally  with  this  condition  is  the  insti- 
tution of  polygamy  as  the  strongest  males  are  reduced  in  number 
more  than  the  females,  though  of  course  there  are  other  elements 
that  have  large  influence  upon  it.  Monogamy  according  to  the 
account  in  the  Bible  is  not  an  evolution  from  the  herd  condition 
of  brutes,  but  is  based  upon  the  nature  of  man  as  a  socius. 

This  particular  element  in  the  nature  of  man  is  shown  in 
four  striking  features  in  the  history  of  the  race.  The  first  is 
that  the  sexes  exist  in  nearly  equal  numbers.  The  records  of 
many  millions  of  births  in  civilized  Europe  carefully  kept  through 
many  years  show  that  the  average  of  male  children  born  to  female 
is  one  hundred  and  six  to  one  hundred.  When  years  of  maturity 
are  reached,  that  is  from  seventeen  to  forty-five  years  of  age  the 
average  is  slightly  changed,  there  are  one  hundred  males  to  one 
hundred  and  three  females.  Above  the  age  of  fifty  the  number 
of  females  exceeds  the  number  of  males  in  slowly  increasing  pro- 
portion. Observation  as  far  as  it  goes  shows  that  among  the 
uncivilized  where  no  records  are  kept  the  males  and  females  are 
nearly  equal  in  the  birth  rate,  but  the  dangers  of  male  life  cause 
a  greater  decrease  of  males  in  advancing  life.  With  all  such 
allowance  fully  made  nature  teaches  monogamy. 

The  second  feature  is  the  capacity  in  man  and  woman  for  a 
life  long  exclusive  passion.  This  is  a  matter  of  observation  in 
any  community  in  civilized  lands,  is  found  in  all  historical  rec- 
ords and  in  the  world's  literature,  and  is  observed  as  well  in  the 
uncivilized  tribes.  It  is  a  capacity  that  gives  rise  to  jealousy,  and 
that  may  be  warped  in  strong  temptations  and  unfavorable  en- 
vironments, and  seems  small  and  weak  in  particular  cases,  but 
that  it  is  a  capacity  in  all  and  a  ruling  one  in  a  multitude  of 
instances  in  all  ages  and  in  all  lands  cannot  be  questioned,  and 
it  makes  most  marriages  everywhere  monogamous. 

The  third  feature  is  the  prolonged  period  of  gestation.  In  this 
man  resembles  the  higher  mammals.  But  there  seems  also  a 
curious  unlikeness.  The  sense  of  paternity  is  quite  rare  appar- 
ently among  the  animals.     Some  have  seen  indications  that  the 


76  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

sense  of  maternity  awakened  in  man  before  that  of  paternity,  but 
the  tracing  of  relationship  through  mothers  alone  has  other  and 
more  obvious  explanations,  and  at  any  rate  the  sense  of  paternity 
was  soon  awakened  and  enlisted.  In  every  man  there  is  a  capac- 
ity of  all  the  fine  feelings  embraced  in  the  condition  of  father- 
hood, and  in  every  woman  there  is  the  capacity  of  all  the  fine 
feelings  embraced  in  the  condition  of  mother-hood.  These  can 
be  drawn  out  only  by  the  coming  of  a  babe,  their  own  babe,  and 
they  are  drawn  out  into  a  tender  and  strong  existence  by  the  long 
anticipation  of  the  coming  child,  and  bind  the  man  and  woman 
together  in  the  tender  and  noble  hopes  centered  in  the  child. 

"Oh  moment  born  of  life,  of  love! 

Oh   rapture  of  all   earth's   high,  high  above! 

Three  lives  in  one, 

By  loving  won! 

My  own,  and  thine 

Oh  bond  divine! 

Our  little  child!  our  little  child!" 

These  are  the  peculiar  and  strong  features  of  nature  that  tend 
to  monogamy  everywhere  and  in  all  stages.  The  intrusion  of 
a  third  party  either  in  polygamy,  polyandry  or  licentiousness  dis- 
turbs and  thwarts  natures'  plan  and  teachings. 

The  fourth  feature  is  the  prolonged  infancy  of  man's  progeny. 
Man  is  the  highest  developed  of  all  the  animals,  but  the  babe 
of  man  is  the  most  helpless  of  all  creatures,  and  this  helplessness 
is  most  prolonged  of  all  beings.  Every  breast  in  mammal  life  is 
not  for  the  one  having  it,  it  is  an  absolute  disadvantage  and  a 
frequent  danger  for  the  possessor,  but  it  exists  purely  for  the  off- 
spring. Thus  nature  teaches  in  its  higher  orders  of  life  the 
living  not  for  self  alone,  but  for  others,  the  love  of  offspring.  In 
man  this  is  found  in  its  highest  and  best  manifestation,  but  it  is 
not  limited  to  the  mother  or  to  the  father's  interest  through  the 
mother,  for  the  helplessness  of  the  child  is  prolonged  a  great 
while  after  the  time  when  he  must  be  weaned  from  the  mother's 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  77 

breast.  The  highest  of  the  animals  is  soon  weaned  and  frisks 
about  in  full  life  caring  for  itself.  But  the  man  child  when 
weaned  cannot  be  left  to  take  care  of  itself,  it  is  still  dependent 
upon  the  care  of  both  parents.  That  which  was  awakened  by  the 
long  period  of  gestation,  the  love  of  offspring  is  now  further  de- 
veloped and  cultivated  by  the  prolonged  period  of  infancy  and 
childhood  helplessness.  This  feature  in  the  nature  of  man  makes 
for  monogamy  and  is  found  existing  strongly  in  the  primitive 
society  we  are  considering. 

It  is  also  a  feature  of  large  influence  in  the  advance  of  civiliza- 
tion. John  Fisk  points  out  that  the  protracted  helplessness  of 
children  is  a  strong  influence  leading  to  permanent  family  rela- 
tions, and  is  prolonged  in  advancing  civilization.  The  savage 
parents  expect  their  son  to  take  care  of  himself  at  an  early  age, 
he  is  taught  to  hunt  and  fish  and  to  depend  upon  his  skill,  and 
they  expect  their  daughters  to  be  taken  as  wives  when  quite 
young.  The  age  at  which  woman  marry  advances  with  the  rise  of 
civilization.  Among  savages  women  marry  j^oung,  and  age  very 
young,  and  childhood  is  weak  and  easily  swept  ofif  the  stage  of  life, 
only  the  strong  survive,  so  savage  races  do  not  increase  rapidly. 
Sutherland  found  the  average  of  forty-six  races  of  savages  the 
men  appropriated  the  girls  of  their  tribes  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
while  the  average  of  fifty-eight  races  of  barbarians  the  age  of  the 
girls  was  not  quite  fourteen.  In  China  and  Japan  the  average 
age  of  marriage  of  girls  is  sixteen.  In  Europe,  according  to 
Ansell,  the  daughters  of  the  unskilled  laborers  marry  at  twenty- 
two,  and  those  of  the  educated  classes  at  twenty-six.  So  the  age 
at  which  men  begin  to  earn  their  own  living  advances  with  advanc- 
ing civilization.  The  savage  and  barbarian  boy  is  soon  thrown 
upon  his  own  resources,  hunts,  fishes,  and  picks  up  his  living 
of  others.  Among  the  very  poor  in  civilized  lands,  in  the  slums 
of  cities,  in  factory  towns,  in  mining  regions,  and  on  farms  as  soon 
as  a  little  strength  is  developed  the  boy  becomes  a  bread  winner, 
and  helps  his  parents  in  supporting  the  family.  The  presence  of 
want  is  so  great  that  the  State  often  has  to  interfere  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  child,  the  parental  instinct  of  care  is  not  strong  enough 


78  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

to  secure  the  best  care  for  the  child.  When  circumstances  are 
more  favorable  as  civilization  advances  the  parents  give  both 
sons  and  daughters  long  training  in  school,  college,  profession  and 
trade  to  prepare  for  full  living,  and  so  the  period  of  helplessness 
or  dependence  is  prolonged. 

When  we  contemplate  the  condition  of  the  race  on  earth  today 
we  find  savage  and  barbarian  but  no  brute  condition,  no  living 
together  of  men  and  women  as  in  the  herd  of  animals.  There 
are  hordes  where  there  seems  very  little  organization  but  in 
them  there  is  found  the  family,  though  in  rudimentary  form, 
still  father  and  mother  and  their  own  children.  The  simplest 
form  of  family  is  in  the  savage  horde,  it  is  pairing  for  a  short 
time  till  the  child  is  weaned  and  a  little  beyond  that  condition, 
when  the  helplessness  of  the  child  lessens  a  little  the  public  opinion 
of  the  horde  permits  the  husband  to  discard  his  wife  and  seek 
another.  Frequently  by  that  time  there  is  prospect  of  another 
child  which  prolongs  the  relationship.  This  prevails  among  the 
Amazonian  Indians,  the  Black  Men  of  Australia  and  the  Eskimos. 
In  central  and  northern  Asia  a  woman  frequently  has  several  hus- 
bands, in  Tibet  the  husbands  are  brothers.  Polyandry  had  died 
out  largely  even  in  Central  Asia;  it  is  said  to  have  once  prevailed 
among  the  Irish.  Polygamy  still  flourishes  especially  among  the 
well  to  do  in  China  and  Turkey.  A  strange  combination  of 
polyandry'  and  polygamy  is  found  among  the  Todas  of  India, 
where  a  group  of  brothers  marry  a  group  of  sisters,  each  woman 
is  a  wife  to  all  the  men,  and  each  man  is  a  husband  to  all  the 
women.  But  even  in  the  lowest  savage  condition  that  form  of 
pairing  which  most  resembles  monogamy  prevails,  based  upon  the 
life  long  passion  of  one  sex  for  the  other,  and  giving  rise  to  jeal- 
ousy and  resentment  of  all  intrusion  upon  the  relationship.  In 
some  of  these  instances  the  relationship  of  the  children  must  be 
traced  through  the  mothers,  the  father's  side  is  almost  ignored. 
The  matronymic  group  is  frequently  named  from  some  plant 
or  animal  from  which  the  mother  of  the  group  is  supposed  to  have 
sprung.  The  plant  or  animal  so  regarded  is  a  totem,  is  worshipped 
as  divine,  and  is  protected  by  the  horde  or  kindred,  and  is  not 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  79 

to  be  slain  or  used  as  food.  The  finest  instance  of  this  is  in  the 
fast  vanishing  North  American  Indians.  The  Congo  tribes  of 
West  Africa  are  also  matronymic.  It  is  thought  that  kinship 
was  originally  reckoned  through  mothers  in  Egypt  and  Arabia. 
In  the  matronymic  horde  marriage  within  the  totemic  kindred  is 
generally  forbidden,  it  may  be  in  the  larger  tribe.  In  the  patrony- 
mic tribe  marriage  is  frequently  required  to  be  within  the  kindred, 
certainly  within  the  tribe.  In  the  lowest  hordes  of  savages  now 
existing  there  are  no  such  distinctions  as  cousins,  uncles,  and 
aunts,  nephews  and  nieces.  All  men  and  women  of  the  same 
generation  are  called  brothers  and  sisters,  of  the  preceding  gen- 
eration fathers  and  mothers,  of  the  younger  generations,  sons  and 
daughters,  but  these  general  designations  are  based  upon  the  ex- 
isting family  relations.  When  the  relationship  of  the  children  is 
traced  through  the  fathers  each  group  was  named  from  some  real 
or  fictitious  male  ancestor,  the  head  of  a  clan  or  tribe.  In  the 
Greek  and  Roman  tribes  the  kindred  group  was  the  gens.  In  the 
ethnic  society  whether  clan,  tribe  or  nation  the  social  bond  is  a 
real  or  fictitious  relationship,  the  pure  ethnic  nation  is  rare  today 
though  tribes  and  nations  at  the  beginning  must  have  been  based 
on  genetic  relationship.  Demotic  societies  are  largely  made  up 
with  little  regard  to  genetic  relationship.  Nations  with  long  his- 
tories are  today  made  up  of  many  gens.  Our  own  nation,  though 
comparatively  young,  is  probably  the  most  demotic  of  all  societies, 
the  mingled  blood  of  many  races. 

In  the  primitive  society  of  the  Bible  the  endowment  was  that 
of  the  full  socius,  the  intellectual,  moral,  religious  and  social 
being,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  evidences  of  the  structure  and 
quality  of  man  wherever  found,  and  by  the  history  and  present 
condition  of  the  relation  of  sexes  in  the  race. 

The  fourth  feature  of  the  primitive  society  is  that  of  Develop- 
ment. Man's  development,  his  advance  in  civilization  has  de- 
pended largely  upon  his  discovery  and  possession  of  three  simple 
things  with  which  we  are  very  familiar,  fire,  tools  and  language. 
By  the  use  of  language  he  is  able  to  enter  upon  associated  action 
and  to  keep  the  discoveries  of  his  ancestors,  and  to  form  ideals 


8o  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  public  opinion.  The  possession  of  this  power  we  have  seen 
come  from  the  mental  power  of  abstraction,  its  first  use  was  in 
man's  naming  his  surroundings,  and  in  its  continued  use  in  ever 
widening  ranges  has  been  its  great  development.  If  one  were 
asked  upon  what  man's  development  depended,  he  would 
of  course  say  upon  fire,  tools  and  language,  if  further  asked 
where  these  came  from  he  would  be  forced  to  say  from  his  struggle 
with  his  environment,  not  as  the  beasts  to  adapt  themselves  to 
the  environment,  but  in  the  effort  to  adapt  the  environment  some- 
what to  himself.  In  the  Bible  account  it  is  called  "tilling  the 
ground,  subduing  the  earth,  having  dominion  over  every  living 
thing."  The  first  hint  of  man's  life  upon  earth  distinguishes  him 
from  the  animals  in  his  power  to  change  his  environment,  in  the 
call  of  environment  upon  the  higher  powers  of  the  socious.  By 
fire  and  tools  man  grasps  the  powers  of  the  universe.  Man  dif- 
fers from  the  highest  animals  in  these  three  respects,  in  fire,  tools 
and  language;  in  having  the  mental  powers  to  discover  and  grasp 
these,  herein  lies  his  development.  He  develops  by  individual 
but  especially  by  associated  action  in  struggling  with  his  environ- 
ment; the  animals  do  not  develop  in  this  sense  at  all.  How  man 
discovered  fire  we  do  not  know  but  may  easily  imagine.  It  is 
so  easy  for  man  created  in  the  likeness  of  God  but  so  absolutely 
impossible  for  the  animal  without  that  likeness,  however  high 
he  stands  in  the  ascending  steps  of  evolution.  One  stone  drops 
upon  another,  tinder  grass  is  around  it,  a  spark  flashes  and  sets 
fire  to  the  grass.  The  monkey  may  have  thrown  the  stone,  or  a 
man  may  have  done  so.  Both  see  the  fire,  the  one  is  astonished, 
perhaps  frightened ;  the  other  watches  it,  sees  some  of  its  effects 
that  are  worth  while,  controls  it,  puts  it  out,  then  sees  if  it  can 
be  brought  about  again.  Only  a  few  generations  ago  our  ances- 
tors made  fire  by  striking  flint  with  iron  in  a  tinder  box.  Now 
we  have  a  better  way.  Still  it  is  the  same  thing.  Man  makes  fire 
whenever  he  wants  it,  and  does  with  it  a  marvelous  lot  of  things 
worth  doing.  He  adapts  his  environment  to  himself,  the  cold 
winter  is  coming  on,  birds  fly  south,  beasts  seek  their  dens  for 
the   winter's   sleep,    they   adapt    themselves    to    the   winter;    man 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  8i 

builds  a  shelter  and  a  fire  and  does  his  best  work  in  the  winter's 
cold ;  he  adapts  the  winter  to  himself. 

So  with  tools.  No  animal  ever  makes  tools,  it  is  a  question 
whether  any  animal  ever  uses  a  tool  ready  made  to  his  hand.  The 
beaver  builds  his  dam,  birds  build  their  nests,  they  bite  off  sticks 
or  pick  up  loose  ones  and  use  them  for  their  purposes.  Wonderful 
is  dam  and  nest,  but  there  is  no  development,  the  dam  and  nest  of 
today  are  like  those  of  the  earliest  stages  known,  no  improvement 
has  been  noticed.  The  monkey  is  said  to  break  cocoanuts  with 
stones,  the  gorilla  is  said  to  use  a  club;  these  are  more  like  tools; 
but  no  monkey  ever  shaped  a  stone  to  his  purpose,  no  gorilla 
ever  made  the  club  to  his  purpose,  there  has  been  no  making  of 
tools  by  any  animal  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge.  There  has 
been  no  development  in  animal  life,  individual  or  associated ;  they 
have  not  the  powers  that  discover  and  use  language,  fire  and  tools; 
they  cannot  "till  the  earth"  or  "subdue  it"  or  "have  dominion 
over  it;"  they  were  not  endowed  with  the  likeness  of  God;  hence 
they  cannot  develop,  they  cannot  change  their  environment,  they 
cannot  grasp  the  forces  of  nature. 

The  power  to  make  and  use  tools  must  have  awakened  as 
soon  as  man  began  to  till  the  ground,  as  soon  as  man  began  to 
hunt  or  fish,  as  soon  as  he  began  to  have  flocks  and  herds.  To 
change  animals  from  wild  to  domestic,  to  protect  man  from  the 
fierce  animals,  or  secure  them  for  food,  to  raise  any  kind  of  grain 
from  the  soil  must  have  required  more  than  an  empty  hand. 
The  empty  hand  would  answer  only  for  the  first  attempt.  The 
first  use  of  a  club  found  ready  to  the  hand  would  suggest  a 
stronger  club  with  a  loaded  head.  The  first  throwing  of  a  stone 
would  suggest  a  choice  of  stones  and  a  lengthening  of  the  arm. 
The  first  scratching  of' the  soil  with  the  fingers  would  suggest 
something  harder  and  sharper  than  the  fingers.  Now  tools  when 
at  first  made  would  be  of  course  rude  but  their  improvement 
would  be  quickly  begun,  and  quite  eagerly  carried  on,  for  the  same 
quality  that  discovered  would  improve  them.  There  would  be  a 
stone  age,  and  a  bronze  age,  there  would  be  successive  stages  of 
the   improvement   of   tools   and   civilization  would   advance  with 


82  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  improvement,  as  man  became  more  successful  in  tilling  the 
ground  and  gaining  dominion  over  the  earth. 

In  the  first  four  chapters  of  Genesis  the  concise  description  of 
the  beginning  of  primitive  society  includes  many  important  items 
showing  man's  rapid  development  in  the  discovery  and  use  of 
tools.  There  were  two  kinds  of  dress,  one  made  from  vegeta- 
tion, the  other  made  from  the  skin  of  animals;  both  required  sew- 
ing with  twisted  thread  or  throngs.  Sewing  and  weaving  formed 
the  beginning  of  an  industry  which  has  been  carried  on  in  the  home 
until  within  the  memory  of  living  man,  but  now  is  largely  trans- 
ferred to  factories.  There  were  two  kinds  of  employments,  one 
the  tilling  of  the  soil,  the  other  the  tending  of  herds  and  flocks, 
both  requiring  tools  as  we  have  just  seen.  There  were  two  kinds 
of  dwelling  places,  tents  and  houses,  two  kinds  of  groups  of  dwell- 
ings, camps  and  towns.  The  difference  between  a  tent  and  a 
house  marks  the  difference  of  two  civilizations.  The  one  is 
nomadic  having  many  virtues  and  some  refinement,  having  loyalty 
to  the  condition  and  to  broad  ranges  suitable  to  it,  as  the  loyalty 
of  the  sailor  to  the  ship  and  the  sea;  but  lacking  in  loyalty  to 
a  special  locality,  it  fosters  a  wandering,  unstable  character.  The 
other,  the  house,  awakens  love  of  country,  of  the  dwelling  not 
only  but  of  the  dwelling  place,  the  patriotism  for  the  land;  it 
fosters  a  stable,  firm  character.  In  the  primitive  society  those 
two  types  quickly  arise. 

In  the  making  of  dress,  in  the  employment  of  man,  and  in 
the  construction  of  either  tent  or  house  the  development  of  a 
wide  variety  of  tools  would  be  speedily  brought  about.  In  this 
some  excelled  others,  one  gained  such  eminence  that  his  name  is 
mentioned.  Tubal  Cain,  the  forger  of  every  cutting  instrument 
of  brass  or  iron,  or  the  instructor  of  artificers  in  copper  and  iron. 
In  these  four  short  chapters  we  have  also  the  description  of  the 
advance  of  richly  endowed  man  in  refinement.  Tools  are  used 
not  merely  for  the  necessities  of  life  but  for  its  adornment. 
Earthen  vessels  become  vases,  plain  dress  or  tent  or  house  become 
ornamented,  and  at  length  tools  turn  out  instruments  of  music, 
the  wind  and  string  instruments.     Here  too  in  the  refinements  of 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  83 

life  some  excel  others  and  one  arose  of  such  eminence  that  his 
name  is  given,  Jubal,  the  father  of  such  as  handle  the  harp  arid 
the  pipe.  It  was  probably  before  the  tents  at  the  close  of  an  excit- 
ing day  that  Lamach  told  those  gathered  there  of  his  great  adven- 
ture. It  has  the  elemental  features  of  poetry,  short  quick  sen- 
tences like  the  rapid  breathing,  the  quick  heart  beats  of  the  ad- 
venture itself.  It  was  caught  up  in  the  memory  and  frequently 
repeated,  so  it  comes  down  to  us,  repeated  with  appropriate  action 
in  the  cool  of  the  day  by  the  group  of  tent  dwellers,  the  swing- 
ing arms,  the  measured  step,  the  involved  movement  of  the 
original  conflict,  ending  in  the  dance  of  exhilaration  and  triumph. 
The  artificer,  the  musician,  the  poet,  quickly  arise,  and  primitive 
society  has  not  only   toil   but   refinement  and   amusement. 

Wonderful  has  been  man's  evolution  in  the  development  of 
tools  both  those  of  use  and  of  refinement.  The  brush  of  the 
painter,  the  chisel  of  the  sculptor,  the  baton  of  the  orchestral 
leader,  the  pen  of  the  poet,  all  these  are  simply  tools.  The  railroad, 
the  steamship,  the  factory,  the  electric  plant,  these  too  are  tools. 
The  development  of  tools  was  gradual  up  until  about  a  century 
ago.  Since  that  time  it  has  been  marvelously  rapid.  A  great 
change  both  in  the  character  of  the  tools  and  in  the  manner  of 
their  use  has  come  about  in  modern  times.  Tools,  generally 
speaking,  a  century  ago,  were  simple  and  cheap,  now  they  are  very 
complex  and  expensive.  Tools  a  century  ago  were  generally 
moved  by  man's  muscle,  and  were  used  in  the  home.  Now  they 
are  largely  moved  by  steam  or  electricity,  and  are  located  near 
the  steam  power,  in  large  factories.  Tools  a  century  ago  were 
generally  owned  by  the  artisan,  and  the  workman  was  protected 
by  the  law  of  the  land  in  the  possession  of  his  tools,  they  were 
his  means  of  earning  his  living  and  could  not  be  easily  taken  away 
from  him.  Now  tools  are  generally  owned  not  by  the  workman, 
but  by  the  capitalist,  the  owner  of  the  large  factory,  the  workman 
has  no  right  to  them,  that  is  acknowledged  by  the  law  of  the 
land,  he  may  be  partially  or  entirely  deprived  of  their  use,  and 
thus  of  his  means  of  earning  his  living,  by  the  will  of  the  capital- 
ist, whether  individual  or  company.     The  warfare  so  frequent  in 


84  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

modern  society  called  the  war  between  labor  and  capital  would 
be  more  vividly  and  truthfully  described  as  the  war  between  the 
tool  worker  and  the  tool  owner.  To  get  to  the  bottom  of  the 
difficulty  one  must  recognize  the  fact  that  the  opportunity  of  the 
tool  worker  of  earning  a  living  is  entirely  in  the  hand  of  the 
tool  owner.  One  of  the  great  problems  of  modern  society  is  how 
the  laws  which  fitted  the  conditions  a  century  ago,  when  the 
workman  owned  his  tools,  should  be  changed  to  fit  the  conditions 
of  today,  and  of  all  the  future.  Some  light  may  be  thrown  upon 
this  tremendous  problem  by  the  principles  of  the  particular  so- 
ciety of  the  Bible  which  we  are  soon  to  consider. 

The  fifth  feature  of  primitive  society  demanding  our  atten- 
tion is  the  tendency  to  Deterioration.  All  society  that  has  ever 
been  studied,  even  the  highest  civilization  has  had  this  tendency, 
which  has  ever  to  be  guarded  against  or  degeneracy  accumulates 
force  to  destruction.  In  all  orders  of  life  there  seem  to  be  three 
great  tendencies  which  culminate  in  the  prevailing  conditions, 
those  of  evolution,  of  balance  and  of  deterioration.  Balance  is 
hard  to  preserve,  it  is  apt  to  be  a  slow  almost  impreceptible  evolu- 
tion or  deterioration,  still  it  is  a  condition  that  exists  and  in  a 
highly  organized  society  may  prevail  for  a  long  time  as  we  count 
the  years  of  a  nation's  life.  Darwin  in  his  intelligent  evolution 
of  pigeons  noted  that  in  any  particular  class,  even  the  highest, 
there  would  occasionally  be  an  individual  of  a  dark  slaty  blue 
with  two  black  bands  across  the  wings,  like  the  far  back  ances- 
tor of  pigeons,  the  rock  pigeon.  This  was  an  instance  of  the  gen- 
eral principle  of  deterioration,  the  reversion  to  type.  We  may 
reasonably  suppose  that  if  all  intelligent  oversight  of  the  evolution 
of  pigeons,  either  by  the  great  Creator  or  by  man  made  in  His 
likeness,  was  removed,  that  if  all  the  great  variety  of  pigeons  now 
existing  were  gathered  together  on  some  great  rocky  island  in 
mid  ocean,  and  left  to  become  wild  and  take  care  of  themselves, 
in  a  few  years  the  great  diversities  would  vanish,  and  the  de- 
scendants of  the  different  varieties  would  all  become  dark  slate 
blue  with  two  black  bands  on  the  wings  would  all  become  rock 
pigeons ;  the  tendency  to  deterioration,  the  reversion  to  type,  would 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  85 

be  triumphant.  But  God  does  not  leave  pigeons  alone  neither 
does  man,  and  the  evolution  goes  on,  balance  when  attained  is 
preserved,  the  tendency  to  deterioration  is  checked,  at  any  rate 
it  is  prevented  from  becoming  triumphant. 

The  tendency  to  deterioration  in  primitive  society  is  described 
in  the  concise  Bible  account  as  wickedness,  and  it  is  particularized 
as  violence  and  lust,  and  a  few  striking  instances  of  each  are 
given.  The  first  instance  of  violence  was  the  murder  of  a  brother, 
the  violent  taking  of  life  in  a  rivalry  with  reference  to  fellow- 
ship with  God.  The  second  instance  is  Lamach  killing  a  young 
man,  and  as  he  relates  it  to  his  wives  we  can  reasonably  see  the 
killing  of  a  rival  in  the  next  highest  relationship,  that  of  man  and 
woman.  Rivalry  and  conflict  arose  and  violence  of  sudden  quarrel 
or  deliberate  plan  flourishes  until  the  concise  description  says, 
"the  earth  was  filled  with  violence."  Man  became  a  snarling, 
fighting  beast.  There  was  the  tendency  to  deterioration,  the  rever- 
sion to  tj^pe,  the  lower  nature  type,  the  animal  condition. 

The  higher  nature,  the  likeness  of  God,  made  its  efiEort  to 
resist  and  had  large  success.  There  was  a  sense  of  justice  aroused 
in  man  to  protect  life  and  virtue,  each  instance  of  violence  given, 
hints  at  this  strong  power  and  fears  it.  It  is  evidently  strong  in 
the  breast  of  the  murderer  himself  and  he  recognizes  it  must  be 
strong  in  the  breast  of  all  men,  both  Cain  and  Lamach  show 
fear  of  their  own  conscience  and  fear  of  the  avenging  conscience 
of  mankind.  This  feeling  emerging  in  these  two  early  instances 
is  purely  human,  there  seems  nothing  in  brutes  remotely  resembling 
it.  This  must  have  prevailed  wherever  the  earth  was  filled  with 
violence.  The  prevalence  of  lust  is  described  in  terms  difficult  to 
understand.  The  sons  of  God  taking  wives  of  the  daughters  of 
men  because  they  were  fair,  is  described  in  a  way  that  shows 
both  knew  it  to  be  a  wrong  relation.  It  v/as  a  reversion  to  the 
lower  nature  type,  a  deterioration  in  the  relationship  of  the  sexes 
the  reverse  of  evolution,  resulting  in  the  degeneracy  of  the  race 
in  succeeding  generations.  The  mere  animal  relation  of  the  sexes 
is  today  an  element  of  deterioration  in  every  society. 

But  God  did  not  then  nor  has  he  ever  given  up  the  evolution 


86  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  the  race,  nor  has  man  lost  the  likeness  of  God  even  where 
violence  and  lust  have  most  prevailed.  The  Bible  gives  the  moral 
reason  for  the  flood,  it  was  the  righteous  judgment  of  God  upon 
the  prevailing  violence  and  lust,  it  was  the  preparation  for  a  new 
start  in  the  evolution  of  the  race.  All  the  features  of  the  primi- 
tive society  we  have  been  considering  were  preserved,  and  so  the 
new  start  would  be  greatly  in  advance  of  the  old.  While  the 
Bible  gives  the  moral  reason  it  also  describes  the  physical  reasons, 
which  aside  from  the  Bible  are  not  hard  to  find  and  whose  fea- 
tures are  in  harmony  with  the  Bible  description.  Primitive  so- 
ciety was  still  limited  in  size  to  one  locality  on  the  earth,  the 
favored  one  by  the  seaside  and  along  the  river  bottoms,  some  of 
the  rivers  described  seem  to  have  vanished  aw^ay,  others  are  still 
prominent  features  of  that  favored  land  and  clime.  Geology 
says  there  are  evidences  east  of  the  Great  Sea  of  what  we  have 
learned  to  call  in  these  days  a  great  geological  fault  or  earth- 
quake, and  whose  most  recent  terrible  examples  are  found  in 
the  destruction  of  San  Francisco  and  of  Messina.  The  remark- 
able thing  about  San  Francisco  is  that  though  so  near  the  ocean 
it  was  not  followed  by  a  tidal  wave  of  vast  destructiveness,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Lisbon  earthquake  in  quite  recent  times.  The 
reason  is  that  the  fault,  or  slide  of  the  rocks  was  confined  to  the 
land,  though  on  the  edge  of  the  ocean  it  was  confined  to  the  edge, 
did  not  extend  underneath  it.  In  the  case  of  Messina  the  tidal 
wave  was  as  destructive  as  the  earthquake  and  was  a  part  of  it.  In 
the  great  fault  or  wrinkling  of  the  earth  on  the  east  of  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea  and  to  the  north  of  the  India  Ocean,  when  the 
earth  was  so  much  younger,  and  so  much  nearer  the  great  con- 
vulsions of  the  geological  ages,  it  extended  beneath  the  seas,  and 
not  only  did  the  land  quake  but  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
were  broken  up  and  washed  over  the  great  subsidence  of  the 
earth.  When  the  earth  rose  again  and  the  waters  flowed  to  their 
appointed  places  traces  were  left  upon  the  land  itself  in  the  land 
locked  seas,  the  Caspian  to  the  north,  the  Dead  Sea  to  the  south, 
in  the  deep  depression  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  along  the  western 
wrinkle  of  mountains  with  its  unmatched  and  uneven  strata  of 


PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  87 

rocks  across  the  Jordan  depression,  and  in  the  Great  basin  of 
Mesapotamia,  north  of  the  Great  Desert,  the  rivers  flowing  into 
the  southern  seas.  We  may  well  call  the  ante-deluvian  society 
primitive,  with  its  limited  numbers,  its  limited  locality,  its  un- 
known length  of  days,  its  unity  of  language,  its  great  endow- 
ments and  attainments,  its  vast  deterioration,  its  great  catastrophy ; 
its  vast  treasure  it  passed  over  to  the  society  of  the  varied  and 
scattered  tribes  and  nations,  its  decendants  and  inheritors. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Primary  Classes  In  Early  Society. 

The  solidarity  of  the  race  of  mankind  now  generally  conceded 
implies  its  descending  from  one  source.  The  Bible  describes  its 
earliest  experiments  in  living  made  in  a  limited  locality,  and  its 
possession  of  one  language.  From  this  one  place  it  spread  over 
the  earth,  from  this  one  primitive  society  it  scattered  into  many 
tribes  and  nations,  from  the  one  language  the  many  languages 
and  dialects  spoken  by  man  today  branched  forth.  The  earliest 
known  civilizations,  described  in  their  own  literature,  the  cunei- 
form Babylonian  and  the  hieroghlypic  Egyptian,  and  linked 
with  the  following  and  neighboring  civilizations  by  many  his- 
torical ties,  arose  in  the  locality  from  which  the  race  scattered,  and 
may  be  traced  back  to  the  emigration  described  in  the  Bible. 

The  long  lists  of  strange  names  given  in  the  early  chapters  of 
Genesis,  especially  those  after  the  flood,  and  the  vague  descrip- 
tions and  general  directions  of  the  movements  of  their  descendants 
seem  at  first  blush  to  give  but  little  sociological  material  of  any 
value.  Still  it  does  not  require  great  study  to  discover  that  they 
throw  much  light  upon  at  least  three  subjects  of  some  importance 
in  the  new  science  of  sociology,  and  so  in  the  development  and 
the  welfare  of  the  race  of  mankind  in  our  modern  times.  We 
shall  consider  these  in  a  somewhat  arbitrary  order  of  succession. 
First,  the  primary  and  secondary  classes  in  society.  Second,  the 
ancient  scattering  and  the  modern  gathering  of  the  great  brother- 
hood, the  race  of  men.  Third,  the  ancient  shortening  of  human 
life,  and  the  modern  lengthening  of  it  in  christian  civilization. 

First  the  primary  and  secondary  classes  in  Society.  In  the  pro- 
gressive organization  of  society  there  are  primar)^  classes  which 


PRIMARY  CLASSES  IN  SOCIETY  89 

are  fundamental  to  its  growth,  and  secondary  classes  which  are 
the  result  of  its  growth.  The  primary  classes  are  elemental  in 
the  evolution  of  society,  the  secondary  classes  are  products  of 
evolution.  The  further  evolution  of  society  to  ever  higher  and 
nobler  forms  is  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  presence  and 
strength  of  the  primary  classes.  Whether  further  evolution  of 
society  shall  foster  or  diminish  or  eliminate  the  secondary  classes 
is  a  question  to  which  many  answers  are  given,  most  of  them 
obviously  conjectural.  The  primary  classes  are  three;  the  vital- 
ity class,  the  ability  class,  and  the  sociability  class.  These  are 
essential  to  any  growth  of  society.  The  secondary  classes  are 
many,  the  most  obvious  are  the  political  classes,  rulers  and  ruled; 
the  industrial  classes,  the  employers  and  the  employees;  the  eco- 
nomic classes,  the  rich  and  the  poor.  These  are  products  of  social 
organization.  There  are  lower  groups  of  society  in  which  these 
classes  hardly  exist.  Utopian  schemes  of  society  have  been 
imagined  from  which  they  have  been  eliminated.  Whether  so- 
ciety will  ever  dispense  with  them  or  no,  it  is  quite  sure  that 
society  should  guard  itself  against  their  overgrowth,  and  that  at 
best  they  are  secondary  classes. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  in  society  in  general  and  in  any  par- 
ticular society  each  of  the  primary  classes  may  have  many  grades. 
In  the  vitality  class  there  may  be  a  strong  and  prolific  life,  where 
there  is  much  bodily  vigor  and  mental  power,  where  the  birth 
rate  is  high  and  the  death  rate  low,  and  where  this  high  degree  of 
vitality  abounds,  the  outlook  of  society  is  hopeful.  The  highest 
class  of  farmers,  manufacturers  and  business  men  in  our  own 
land  are  evidently  the  hope  of  the  country.  The  medium  vital- 
ity class  has  a  lower  birth  rate  and  a  low  death  rate  as  well,  it 
has  less  bodily  vigor  though  still  a  great  deal  of  mental  power, 
it  embraces  the  nervous  people  of  country  and  city,  swept 
along  by  the  rush  of  business  and  pleasure.  This  large  class  is 
much  in  evidence  in  our  American  society.  The  low  vitality 
class  embraces  the  ignorant  and  unclean  people  of  both  country 
and  city,  the  birth  rate  is  frequently  high,  but  so  always  is  the 
death  rate,  the  many  weak  ones  die,  the  few  strong  ones  survive. 


90  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  average  power  of  the  class,  both  bodily  and  mentally,  is  low. 
It  is  in  the  interest  of  every  society  to  have  the  high  vitality 
class  in  the  ascendency,  so  much  so  that  it  gives  the  prominent 
character  to  society,  and  to  have  the  low  vitality  class  in  the 
smallest  proportion  possible,  so  much  so  that  it  can  scarcely  be 
noticed.  Now  as  with  these  modern  ideas  in  our  mind,  we  look 
anew  at  these  long  lists  of  strange  names  found  in  the  early  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  we  get  the  impression  of  a  strong  and  prolific  life, 
that  they  the  lists  of  the  high  vitality  class.  Do  we  read  this 
meaning  into  the  passage  or  is  it  there  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  and  have  we  only  discovered  it?  Several  reasons  favor  the 
latter  conclusion.  The  fact  already  alluded  to  in  reference  to 
the  fifth  chapter  applies  as  well  to  the  several  lists,  they  are 
not  chronological  even  where  ages  are  mentioned  but  entirely 
geneological.  These  far  ofF  men  emerging  from  the  mists  of  the 
unknown  were  fathers  of  families,  of  tribes,  of  nations,  men  of 
strong  vitality  projecting  their  lives  into  a  future  to  them  not 
lighted  up  at  all  by  any  past  experience.  They  were  like  the 
voyagers  and  discoverers  of  our  new  world,  like  the  pioneers  of 
our  western  lands,  men  of  daring  and  vigor  who  did  not  and 
could  not  ask  what  men  had  done  but  had  the  strength  to  do  the 
first  things.  Then  also  the  frequently  recurring  phrase  "sons  and 
daughters"  would  hardly  describe  some  of  our  modern  families 
where  the  birth  rate  is  small,  a  child  or  two,  but  evidently  depicts 
a  condition  of  strong  vitality,  of  large  families,  many  sons  and 
daughters  born  not  only  but  maturing,  carrying  on  the  current 
of  human  life  with  ever  increasing  volume.  It  affords  food  for 
thought  when  compared  with  last  year's  report  of  a  large  Fifth 
Avenue  Church  giving  a  picture  of  the  palace  society  of  our  great 
city;  it  reports  one  thousand  members,  four  hundred  and  eighty 
families,  and  of  these  families  only  eighty-seven  had  any  children, 
and  these  average  only  two  children  to  each  family,  only  one 
hundred  and  sixty  children  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  in 
the  whole  church.  A  third  reason  is  given  in  the  hints  given 
that  these  men  were  so  strong  that  they  founded  families  and 
tribes  not  only,  but  subdued  the  wildness  of  nature,  gave  their 


PRIMARY  CLASSES  IN  SOCIETY  91 

names  to  great  sections  of  country,  carried  their  life  into  unknown 
regions  in  the  face  of  difficulties  and  dangers,  builded  cities  and 
started  civilizations.  They  were  evidently  of  the  high  vitality 
class,  the  hardy  forefathers  of  a  strong  race.  The  race  condi- 
tion of  these  early  times  shows  little  of  the  medium  vitality  class, 
it  is  not  prominent,  gives  no  outlines,  hardly  a  shading  or  two  to 
the  picture,  there  is  not  even  a  hint  of  the  existence  of  a  low 
vitality  class;  but  the  high  vitality  class  flourishes.  The 
start  of  the  race  confirms  the  sociological  dictum  that  the  wel- 
fare of  any  society  depends  upon  the  marked  ascendency  of  its 
high  vitality  class.  Any  society  that  fosters  the  medium  vital- 
ity class  is  in  a  kind  of  balance,  it  may  go  down,  if  any  large  por- 
tion steadily  loses  healthy  vigor,  as  it  is  swept  along  in  the  rush 
and  swirl  of  high  living,  or  it  may  go  up,  if  a  fair  portion  gains 
bodily  vigor  by  intelligently  curbing  and  directing  the  flow  of 
nervous  energy  and  by  living  a  life  morally  high.  There  is  abso- 
lute certainty  that  any  society  that  carelessly  fosters  the  low 
vitality  class  is  degenerating.  The  society  that  allows  its  chil- 
dren of  early  age  to  spend  long  hours  in  factories  or  mines  should 
see  in  their  pallid  faces  and  shrunken  forms  a  picture  of  the  con- 
dition to  which  it  is  itself  hastening,  hastening  all  the  faster 
when  the  parents  of  these  children  are  allowed  to  be  over-worked, 
poorly  fed  and  badly  housed.  Such  a  society  should  quickly  turn 
over  a  new  leaf. 

The  remaining  two  primary  classes  also  have  grades  worthy  of 
mention.  The  abilitj^  class  has  three  grades,  the  inventive,  men 
and  women  of  genius  and  high  talent,  the  formers  of  ideals,  the 
makers  of  public  opinion,  the  creators  of  the  useful  and  the 
beautiful,  those  who  take  the  initiative;  the  imitative,  people  of 
average  ability,  who  follow  their  leaders,  the  mass  of  ordinary 
folk,  to  which  probably  the  most  of  us  belong;  and  the  defective, 
either  in  body  or  mind.  The  sociality  class  has  four  grades,  the 
high  social,  those  of  sympathy  and  public  spirit,  the  low  social, 
those  of  narrow  individualism,  the  pseudo-social,  those  who  live 
as  parasites  on  society,  paupers  in  spirit  though  often  rich 
in  goods;  and  the  anti-social,   those  who  live  by  aggression  on 


92  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

society,  the  vicious  and  the  criminal.  It  is  quite  evident  the  high- 
est grades  of  these  three  primary  classes  may  over-lap,  and  it  is 
to  the  interest  of  society  that  they  should.  The  inventive,  initia- 
tive grade  of  the  ability  class  is  worth  a  great  deal  in  itself,  but 
if  it  is  also  a  high  social  grade  of  great  public  spirit,  it  is  v^rorth 
far  more,  and  if  it  is  also  a  high  vitality  grade  it  may  prolong 
its  services  to  society  for  many  generations.  The  men  and  women 
of  high  vitality,  ability  and  sociality  are  the  God  given  aristocracy, 
the  true  elite  of  society.  The  service  of  this  preeminent  class  is 
great,  in  all  ages  and  climes  it  sets  the  examples  and  lofty  stand- 
ards for  society,  it  does  most  of  the  thinking  in  science,  philosophy 
and  religion,  it  organizes  and  directs  the  great  enterprises  and 
achievements  of  society,  it  creates  the  higher  forms  of  poetry, 
music,  art  and  the  refinements  of  life,  it  gives  much  of  the  grace, 
beauty  and  happiness  to  social  life.  To  leave  out  any  particular 
grade  from  the  combination  weakens  it  almost  beyond  recogni- 
tion, to  leave  out  the  high  sociality  grade  especially  turns  the 
combination  from  a  blessing  to  an  injury,  it  may  be  to  a  curse  of 
society.  This  God  given  aristocracy  are  the  naturally  distin- 
guished in  any  time  and  clime,  they  arise  from  the  primary  classes 
and  their  number  is  not  large.  Besides  these  is  the  man  made 
aristocracy,  the  artificially  distinguished  ;  these  are  far  more  numer- 
ous, they  arise  from  the  secondary  classes.  The  kings  and  nobles. 
The  captains  of  industry.  The  wealthy.  Even  both  kinds  of  the 
distinguished    are   rare. 

A  curious  study  of  the  proportion  of  the  distinguished  and  of 
the  production  of  great  men  has  been  carried  on  in  recent  times 
with  great  research,  and  is  of  much  interest.  Galton  estimated 
that  in  1868  there  were  in  the  British  Isles  500  distinguished 
people.  Didot  gives  a  list  of  the  distinguished  from  the  time 
of  Pericles  to  1850  which  includes  100,000  names,  many  of 
these  are  the  artifically  distinguished,  by  the  accident  of  hereditary 
positions,  as  kings,  leaders,  rich.  During  this  long  time,  prob- 
ably a  hundred  billions  of  men  had  passed  over  the  earth,  giv- 
ing about  one  distinguished  man  to  every  million  who  lived  and 
died  in  obscurity.     Now  comparing  this  with  Galton  where  there 


PRIMARY  CLASSES  IN  SOCIETY  93 

was  one  distinguished  person  in  the  British  Isles  to  every  sixty 
thousand  obscure  people,  the  conclusion  is  reached  that  the  society 
of  the  British  Isles  fostered  the  over-lapping  of  the  high  vitality, 
ability  and  sociality  classes,  and  that  the  secondary  classes  also 
were  more  fully  developed  than   in  the  rest  of  the  world  as  a 
whole,   to   account   for   the   far   larger  proportion   of   the   distin- 
guished.    One  can  easily  see  that  other  elements  enter  the  ques- 
tion, publicity  for  one,  still  the  calculation  is  of  curious  interest. 
Prof.   Cattell   has  made  an   earnest  study  of   the  production   of 
great  men.     From  the  biographical  dictionaries  of  all  languages 
he  selects  the  one  thousand  names  having  the  greatest  average 
space   and   attention,   and   then   classifies   these   according   to   his 
skilled  judgment.     He  finds  France  leads  in  the  production  of 
great  men,  England  comes  next  and  America  stands  low  in  the 
list.     He  finds  that  each  nation  has  its  own  special  kind  of  great- 
ness, as  for  example,  the  great  men  of  Italy  are  chiefly  artists,  and 
poets.     Of  the  names  of  the  first  one  thousand,  men  of  action 
outnumber    men    of    thought   or    feeling,    but   generally   men    of 
thought  and   feeling  outnumber  men   of  action.     The   first   ten 
great  names  in  the  world's  history  he  sets  down  in  the  order  of 
prominence  as  follows :    Napoleon,  Shakespeare,  Mohammed,  Vol- 
taire, Bacon,  Aristotle,  Goethe,  Caesar,  Luther,  Plato.    They  are 
strangely  distributed  in  time  and  among  nationalities  and  nearly 
equally  as  men  of  action,  thought  and  feeling.     He  concludes  that 
great   men    are   not    produced    by   physical    environment    but    by 
heredity   combined   with   political    and   economic   conditions,    and 
thmks   that  further  study  may  help   to  identify  greatness  in   its 
incipiency,   and   to  encourage   it  soon   enough   to  sensibly   affect 
civilization.     Prof.  Michand  has  confined  his  study  of  great  men 
to   our  own   country   and   presents  some   remarkable   facts.      He 
says  that  in  New  England  out  of  every  hundred  thousand  births 
fifty-four  are  men  of  talent,  that  there  is  a  steady  fall  in  the  pro- 
portional  birth   rate  of  men  of   talent   in  passing  westward,   in 
Ohio  it  is  sixteen,  Illinois  ten,  Missouri,  six,  Kansas  two.     Ohio 
has  eight  times  the  number  of  colleges,  much  larger  material  pros- 
perity,   more   and    larger   cities    and    a    greater   population    than 


94  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Maine,  but  the  proportionate  birth  rate  of  men  of  talent  is  more 
than  twice  as  great  in  Maine  as  in  Ohio.  So  Tennessee  has  more 
Colleges  than  South  Carolina.  Nashville  is  the  educational  center 
of  the  South,  but  the  proportionate  birth  rate  of  men  of  talent 
in  South  Carolina  is  three  times  that  of  Tennessee.  He  gives 
as  a  sufficient  reason  for  these  facts  that  the  immigration  to  the 
coast  states  was  largely  those  loving  religious  freedom,  while  the 
immigration  to  the  western  states  was  largely  those  seeking  mater- 
ial prosperity,  and  so  concludes  as  the  wider  study  did  that 
heredity  is  the  controlling  influence.  This  also  is  in  line  with 
Lombroso,  who  shows  the  close  connection  between  religious 
ideas  and  the  nervous  temperament  of  genius;  good  thinking 
leads  to  much  thinking  and  to  high  thinking.  Of  the  many  names 
in  the  Hall  of  Fame  at  University  Heights,  New  York  City,  a 
large  proportion  owe  their  nativity  to  Massachusetts.  A  large 
proportion  of  our  great  men  are  sons  of  clergymen,  nearly  all  our 
great  men  are  the  sons  of  our  best  men.  Blood  tells.  The  Noble 
Prize  which  has  now  been  awarded  for  five  successive  years 
combines  the  ability  with  the  sociality  primary  classes  and  we  can 
see  it  includes,  though  not  markedly,  the  vitality  class,  and  it 
utterly  excludes  the  distinguished  arising  alone  from  the  second- 
ary classes.  It  awards  $40,000  to  the  one  in  each  of  the  five 
following  classes  who  has  contributed  most  materially  to  the 
benefit  of  mankind  during  the  year,  by  the  most  important  dis- 
covery in  physics,  chemistry  or  physiology,  by  the  finest  piece  of 
literature,  or  by  the  largest  influence  upon  the  fraternity  of  na- 
tions, the  award  to  be  made  by  the  Swedish  Academy  without 
regard  to  nationality.  These  prizes  have  been  awarded  to  six 
Germans,  four  Frenchmen,  four  Englishmen,  two  Hollanders,  and 
one  each  of  other  nationalities,  all  of  Europe.  We  hope  the 
United  States  will  win  one  this  year.  This  hope  has  been  realized 
in  the  prize  for  promoting  peace,  the  fraternity  of  nations,  given 
to  President  Roosevelt  in  1907. 

From  this  slight  view  of  the  distribution  and  uses  of  great  men 
in  the  advance  of  society,  we  turn  again  to  the  long  lists  of  strange 
names  in  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis,  and  at  the  beginning  of 


PRIMARY  CLASSES  IN  SOCIETY  95 

the  history  of  society  we  find  not  only  the  first  of  the  primary 
classes,  the  vitality  class,  but  the  last  two  as  well,  the  ability 
and  the  sociality  classes.  The  history  is  very  concise  the  lists 
at  a  hasty  glance  seem  simply  lists,  but  scholarship  finds  in  some 
of  the  names  themselves  much  significance,  and  there  are  concise 
descriptions  added  to  a  few  names  that  are  full  of  suggestion. 
If  one  underscores  these  with  a  red  lead  pencil  he  will  have  a  few 
red  letter  names,  the  distinguished  men  and  women  in  the  early 
dawn  of  society,  the  great  men  in  the  ranks  of  the  race  as  it 
emerges  from  the  geologic  ages  upon  the  stage  of  history.  At 
the  beginning  the  significance  of  the  names  Adam  and  Eve  is  seen, 
somewhere  near  the  middle  stands  the  name  Nimrod,  the  rebel- 
lious, the  domineering,  and  at  the  close  of  this  dispersion  period 
are  Abraham  and  Sarah,  the  father  and  the  princess  of  multi- 
tudes. Some  of  the  concise  descriptions  added  to  the  names  have 
already  revealed  to  us  the  great  architects  and  decorators  of  tents 
and  houses,  the  gifted  designers  and  makers  of  various  instruments 
of  brass  and  iron,  the  famed  artists  in  music  and  dancing,  and  the 
celebrated  poets  and  actors.  The  general  directions  taken  by  the 
three  divisions  of  the  race  in  the  dispersion,  is  accounted  for  by  the 
coarseness  of  one  of  three  brothers  and  the  refinement  of  the 
other  two,  and  the  story  more  than  hints  at  the  strength  of  the 
heredity  flowing  from  them  to  their  descendants.  One  man  stands 
out  with  great  distinctness,  Nimrod.  He  rid  the  land  of  wild 
beasts,  as  did  the  western  immigrants  in  our  new  world,  he  was  a 
born  leader  of  men  and  founded  a  kingdom,  the  first  kingdom  men- 
tioned in  history,  he  was  aggressive,  invaded  other  lands  and  held 
them  by  building  cities,  was  the  first  world  Conqueror  and  Em- 
peror, the  first  in  a  list  of  a  few  glittering  names  at  the  head  of 
which  Cattell  says,  stands  Napoleon,  the  worthy  successor  of 
Nimrod.  Another  name  becomes  prominent  in  connection  with 
the  dispersion.  Wise  men  foresaw  that  the  race  was  growing  so 
large  that  the  tendency  to  disperse  would  soon  awaken  and  grow 
strong,  they  foresaw  some  of  the  dangers  that  would  follow  and 
might  prove  destructive  and  they  formed  a  plan  to  keep  the  race 
together  in  one  locality.     It  was  to  build  a  great  city,  whose  high 


96  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tower  could  be  seen  at  a  great  distance,  and  so  to  make  for  them- 
selves a  name  that  would  hold  them  together.  Peleg  was  the 
great  philosopher  and  leader  in  this  grand  ambitious  scheme,  and 
was  defeated  by  the  course  of  events.  In  all  ages  of  the  world 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  world  have  been  men 
of  religion,  their  ability  and  sociality  residing  largely  in  that  which 
is  common  to  all  men,  the  religious  nature.  We  see  this  in  Cat- 
tell's  list  of  the  ten  great  men  of  the  world.  We  find  it  also  in 
these  Bible  lists.  Abel  who  instinctively  discovered  the  right  way 
to  approach  God.  Enoch,  whose  whole  life  was  a  walk  with 
God ;  the  inference  is  fair  that  he  had  a  good  wife  a  real  help- 
meet, or  he  could  not  have  walked  with  God  so  steadily  so  many 
years.  Noah  whose  faith  discerned  the  coming  judgment  upon 
the  earth,  full  of  violence,  and  resisted  the  scofiFs  of  the  wicked 
as  he  follows  God's  directions;  and  at  the  close  of  the  dispersion 
period  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful. 

Thus  we  find  in  these  early  chapters  that  which  becomes  the 
striking  characteristic  of  the  Bible,  the  element  of  personality.  It 
is  a  picture  of  human  life,  many  persons  of  varied  ability  and 
character  live  upon  its  pages.  In  these  early  chapters  also  we 
find  much  valuable  sociological  data,  especially  of  the  primary 
classes  of  society,  the  classes  from  which  society  evolves.  The 
average  reader  may  find  little  interest  in  these  long  lists  of  strange 
names,  they  are  without  meaning  to  him,  he  wonders  why  they 
should  be  in  God's  word.  So  in  nature,  God's  other  book,  there 
are  waste  places,  deserts  and  ice  zones.  But  the  thoughtful  are 
slow  in  judging  them  of  little  value,  the  Desert  of  Sahara  may  be 
the  stove  which  warms  civilized  Europe,  the  ice  cap  of  the  north 
may  be  the  great  condenser  of  vapors  into  the  rain  drops,  which 
water  our  land  and  make  it  the  granar\'  of  the  world.  A 
man  can  no  more  make  an  insect  than  he  can  make  a  sun.  The 
naturalist  gives  absorbing  study  to  the  insect,  in  its  perfection  there 
is  abundant  evidence  of  God's  handiwork,  and  also  in  its  relation 
to  His  works  of  greater  size,  and  to  the  whole  system  of  the  vast 
universe.  So  the  etymologist  and  the  sociologist  may  well  study 
these  chapters  and  we  may  find  in  them  lives  joining  that  far 


PRIMARY  CLASSES  IN  SOCIETY  97 

off  early  race  of  man  to  us  in  these  modern  times  in  one  great 
society.  They  are  merely  names  of  persons.  But  a  great  deal  is 
in  a  person,  the  power  of  serving  God  and  man,  the  power  of 
aspiring  to  the  good  and  of  resisting  temptations  to  evil,  the  vicis- 
situdes of  joy  and  sorrow,  the  home  life  of  quiet  ministries,  the 
activites  of  life  in  the  exercise  and  growth  of  many  virtues.  The 
pages  of  history  are  often  lurid  and  bloody,  states  rise  and  fall, 
but  this  is  not  all  of  history,  the  average  person  must  be  taken 
into  account.  The  newspaper  tells  of  the  acts  of  depravity,  and 
of  unusual  greatness  and  goodness,  but  it  is  read  by  the  average 
persons  whose  name  never  gets  into  its  columns.  The  plain  from 
the  Missouri  River  westward  is  an  uninteresting  country,  but  it 
is  an  upward  incline  and  at  length  the  traveler  sees  snow  clad 
mountain  peaks  shining  in  the  clear  air.  Ordinary  lives  may  be 
preparing  the  way  and  leading  up  to  a  grand  life,  like  Enoch, 
shining  in  white  samite,  mystic,  wonderful.  God  regards  and 
remembers  persons,  not  the  race  merely,  not  the  great  only,  but 
persons  linked  by  ties  of  heredity,  linked  by  spreading  social 
ties,  each  of  value  in  himself  and  in  his  many  ties  to  the  great 
society  God  watches  over  and  guides.  We  sometimes  need  this 
thought  in  our  modern  times  to  give  us  courage  and  good  cheer. 
God  remembers  and  fulfils  his  promise.  History  is  the  unfold- 
ing of  a  purpose,  the  carrying  out  of  a  plan,  a  great  evolution 
from  one  degree  of  God's  immanence  to  another  and  much  higher, 
the  highest  yet  attained  or  conceivable  by  us,  the  incarnation  of  the 
son  of  God.  The  first  promise  in  Eden  was  long  delayed  but 
always  remembered  and  always  moving  on  to  its  fulfillment.  The 
genealogic  lists  are  the  record  of  God's  faithfulness.  Matthew 
writing  to  the  Jews  traces  the  lineage  of  Christ  back  to  Abraham. 
Luke  writing  to  the  Greeks  and  all  mankind  traces  his  lineage  back 
to  Adam,  the  son  of  God.  The  future  is  also  covered  by  the 
promise  of  God.  The  evolution  of  the  race  is  the  unfolding  of 
God's  plan,  the  carrying  out  of  his  purpose,  the  establishment  of 
the  Kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  over  the  race  of  man.  As 
at  the  beginning  so  through  all  the  stages  of  the  evolution  the 
primary  classes,  the  vitality,  the  ability  and  the  sociality  classes,  are 


98  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

elemental,  and  these  will  be  striking  elements  in  the  great  con- 
summation when  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  spread  over  the  whole 
earth. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Dispersion  of  the  Race. 

These  early  chapters  of  Genesis  throw  much  light  also  upon  the 
ancient  scattering  and  upon  the  modern  gathering  of  the  race, 
the  great  brotherhood  of  mankind.  The  latter  seems  equally 
brought  about  as  the  former  was  by  the  unfolding  of  God's  won- 
derful plans  in  His  providence  over  the  race.  The  Bible  says 
God  scattered  them,  but  the  account  shows  that  he  scattered 
them,  not  arbitrarily,  He  never  acts  that  way,  but  by  the  natural 
working  of  elemental  forces.  The  race  started  in  a  most  favorable 
locality  and  living  under  the  same  conditions  they  of  course 
developed  the  same  language.  Now  as  the  vitality  class  abounded 
the  locality  however  favorable,  was  bound  to  become  too  small  for 
their  easy  support,  and  as  the  ability  class  abounded  and  the 
sociality  class  as  well  the  discontent  with  narrowed  conditions, 
and  the  inherent  restlessness  of  mankind  would  find  in  them  a 
leadership,  based  on  service,  out  of  the  now  and  the  here  into 
the  elsewhere  and  the  future.  At  first  the  race  spread  to  the  East 
and  swarmed  upon  the  plains,  here  an  effort  was  made  to  check 
the  scattering,  but  however  bold  the  plan  and  energetic  the  attempt 
it  was  doomed  by  these  elemental  forces  to  dismal  failure.  The 
scattering  was  a  matter  of  compulsion  by  these  forces  and  it  was 
followed  by  a  confusion  of  language  and  by  the  formation  of 
tribes;  the  first  is  stated  in  the  narrative  and  was  necessary;  the 
second  is  seen  in  the  accompanying  lists  of  names,  and  was  equally 
necessary.  Associated  families  starting  out  in  the  same  direction, 
pressed  out  from  within  on  the  borders,  drawn  out  further  by 
desirable  prospects,  soon  became  compact  together  as  a  tribe  under 
the  leadership  of  some  able  man,  having  a  sympathy  for  his  kind 


loo  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  under  the  pressure  of  new  circumstances.  By  the  pressure 
within  of  a  crowded  locality,  and  by  the  attraction  without  of 
open  spaces,  the  most  enterprising  and  daring  of  the  race  left  the 
locality  so  favorable  at  the  start,  seeking  something  better,  and 
always  finding  something  different,  and  this  process  went  on  until 
the  race  was  scattered  over  the  earth. 

Each  tribe  in  finding  something  different  found  the  need  of 
new  words  to  describe  the  changed  conditions  and  altered  modes  of 
living.  The  mountaineer  would  not  only  have  new  words  but  a 
different  manner  of  speech  from  the  dweller  on  the  plain,  the  one 
tilling  the  soil  from  the  one  caring  for  flocks,  the  one  dwelling  in 
one  locality  from  the  nomads  wandering  over  many  places,  the  one 
living  in  the  cold  north  from  the  one  dwelling  in  the  warm  south, 
the  one  living  in  the  shadow  of  great  forests  from  the  one  living 
on  sunny  slopes,  the  one  living  on  the  coasts  or  on  the  isles  from 
the  one  living  inland.  Words  once  arisen  and  manner  of  speech 
once  formed  would  become  fixed  through  successive  generations, 
and  in  process  of  time  one  tribe  would  not  be  able  to  understand 
the  language  of  another.  The  basis  of  the  language  was  the  same, 
the  root  forms  of  many  words  the  same,  but  the  new  words  and 
new  manner  of  speech  had  silenced  the  old  familiar  sounds  so 
long,  that  they  were  forgotten  as  though  never  heard.  Thus  the 
race  was  not  only  scattered  but  divided.  Speech,  from  being  a 
means  of  communication,  became  a  barrier,  and  men  of  the  same 
race  seemed  to  each  other  beings  of  strange  races  because  of  strange- 
ness of  speech.  Tribes  and  nations  had  their  separate  localities 
marked  off  from  each  other  by  mountain  ranges,  by  great  rivers, 
by  memorial  stones  or  cities,  but  a  stronger  than  any  visible 
boundary  became  the  boundary  of  speech,  the  vocal  boundary,  a 
mere  sound  in  the  air  but  difficult  of  crossing,  awakening  suspicion, 
and  fostering  dislike. 

In  the  growing  civilization  of  some  of  these  scattered  tribes  the 
spoken  language  became  a  written  one,  the  tribe  itself  became  set- 
tled in  one  locality,  and  enlarged  into  a  nation  and  its  language 
became  more  fixed  in  its  written  form.     In  this  way  arose  those 


DISPERSION  OF  THE  RACE  loi 

great  languages  and  those  large  literatures  so  recently  deciphered 
by  the  scholars  of  our  times. 

The  hieroglyphic  writings  on  the  stones  and  papyrus  rolls  of 
Egypt  had  awakened  the  curiosity  of  ignorance  for  many  ages  until 
the  Rosetta  Stone  gave  us  the  key  opening  this  vast  treasure  to 
our  study.  The  cuneiform  brick  literature  of  the  Euphrates  was 
not  known  even  to  exist  for  many  ages  until  the  vast  libraries  of 
Nineveh  and  Babylon  were  uncovered  with  the  ruins  of  those 
cities  in  the  last  century.  Then  came  the  romance  of  the  discov- 
ery of  cuneiform  bricks  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  containing  the 
political  correspondence  when  Egypt  had  extended  her  kingdom 
far  north  over  regions,  once  dominated  by  the  Euphrates  civiliza- 
tion, and  particularly  the  correspondence  with  Lachish  when 
Palestine  was  a  dependency  of  Egypt.  This  correspondence  was 
finished  and  Egypt  had  withdrawn  her  power  from  the  north 
at  least  one  hundred  years  before  Moses.  So  these  stones  and 
bricks  tell  the  wondrous  tale  that  written  languages  prevailed 
long  before  Greek  words  were  breathed  upon  the  air,  long  before 
the  earliest  records  of  Hebrew  life  were  written  by  Moses.  The 
name  of  Moses  himself  has  its  root  from  the  language  written 
on  stone  long  before  his  day,  the  hieroglyphic  word  we  have  trans- 
lated "the  son  of  the  water". 

This  Bible  account  of  the  rise  of  the  various  languages  is  strik- 
ingly confirmed  by  the  science  of  language  prevailing  today.  It 
compares  the  many  languages  and  dialects  spoken  by  man,  and 
through  the  over  three  thousand  of  them,  some  of  the  rudest,  some 
of  the  most  refined,  there  is  a  strange  though  often  faint  memory 
of  a  primeval  sound.  Through  these  kindred  root  sounds  of 
words  it  groups  these  many  tongues  into  a  few  great  classes.  It 
finds  also  that  these  great  classes  are  not  independent  of  and 
strangers  to  each  other,  that  they  have  some  common  root  sounds. 
The  conclusion  is  not  wild,  that  all  the  languages  of  the  earth  came 
from  one  original  language  of  a  few  sounds,  the  primal  form  of 
speech,  and  that  the  vast  variety  has  been  builded  up  upon  these 
as  the  varied  experiences  of  the  scattering  race  needed  new  words. 
Much  of  the  accepted  theory  that  the  Aryan  race  had  successive 


I02  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

emigrations  from  its  first  home  in  Central  Asia,  that  it  gave  its 
intellectual  superiority  to  India,  to  Greece,  to  Rome  and  to 
northern  Europe  is  based  upon  that  thing  as  light  as  air,  a  mere 
series  of  air  vibrations,  a  word,  a  root  sound  in  a  v^^ord.  Not  only 
the  solidarity  of  the  race  in  physical  form  and  in  psychical  nature, 
especially  in  the  religious  nature,  the  likeness  of  God  that  is 
indestructible,  demands  its  descent  from  one  father,  but  the  spoken 
and  w^ritten  words  of  the  various  tribes  of  the  race  scattered 
over  all  the  earth  tell  the  same  story. 

Not  all  portions  of  the  earth  are  equally  well  adapted  to  become 
the  home  of  man.  This  is  so  even  now.  The  tropic  isles  are  some- 
times swept  by  destructive  cyclones,  but  their  charms  are  many. 
Many  people  would  rather  live  in  California  with  occasional 
earthquakes  than  anywhere  else  without  them.  Besides  portions 
of  the  race  have  been  crowded  out  of  favorable  conditions  into 
unfavorable  ones.  So  there  have  been  widely  different 
kinds  of  living  according  to  widely  different  conditions. 
Far  north  the  struggle  is  with  snow  and  ice.  Far  south 
the  struggle  is  with  sunlight  and  heat.  On  fruitful  plains  the 
ease  of  life  grows  upon  the  tribes,  on  rocky  shores  the  difficulty  of 
gaining  a  livelihood  moulds  the  tribes.  These  different  kinds  of 
life  produce  in  many  successive  generations  changes  in  form,  the 
tall  men  of  the  mountains  and  plains,  the  stunted  men  of  for- 
ests and  ice  fields,  and  changes  in  color,  as  well  as  changes  in 
speech.  Different  ways  of  living,  of  forming  and  handling  tools, 
of  thinking  and  speaking  follow  the  scattering  the  race  abroad 
upon  the  earth. 

All  this  variation  of  the  race,  the  result  of  elemental  forces 
working  freely,  seems  at  first  blush  as  militating  against  the  brother- 
hood of  mankind.  This  first  impression  is  confirmed  by  the  fact 
that  each  tribe  or  nation  separated  from  others  by  marked  dif- 
ferences in  race  and  language,  regarded  the  others  as  aliens,  as 
Inferiors,  as  strangers,  and  after  awhile  as  enemies.  But  taking  a 
larger  view,  trying  to  grasp  the  thought  of  varied  evolution,  striv- 
ing to  catch  a  glimpse  of  God's  plan  of  brotherhood,  it  requires  a 
great  variety  of  character  together  with  a  fellowship  of  spirit.    In 


DISPERSION  OF  THE  RACE  103 

the  ideal  family  where  many  brothers  and  sisters  dwell  in  the  same 
house  there  is  not  sameness  of  character  and  disposition,  but  a  wide 
variety,  and  the  family  rejoices  in  these  differences  and  binds  them 
together  in  one  fellowship.  Now  in  the  race  the  development  of 
great  variety  may  incidentally  and  for  the  time  being  foster 
suspicion  and  strife,  but  in  itself  it  enriches  human  nature,  makes 
it  many  sided,  and  it  tends  also  to  make  each  striking  variety  a 
peculiar  power  that  may  become  enlisted  for  the  service  of  the 
whole.  Different  race  characteristics  thus  arise :  the  materialistic 
profusion  of  the  rich  river  bottoms  and  lands  cultivates  the  pas- 
sion for  luxurious  living  of  ancient  Babylon,  Thebes  and  Carth- 
age; the  race  characteristics  of  Greece,  Rome  and  Judea  are 
developed  by  mountains  and  seas;  thus  many  varied  forms  and 
elements  of  the  scattered  and  separated  tribes  of  mankind  have  been 
developed,  and  so  contribute  to  the  full  many  sided  life  of  the 
race. 

The  time  of  gathering  and  moulding  together  is  therefore 
involved  in  the  scattering  and  separating  of  the  race.  In  subdu- 
ing the  whole  earth  the  idea  is  evidently  contained  that  the  dif- 
ferent portions  of  the  earth  should  make  their  varied  contributions 
to  the  common  good.  So  in  the  scattering  of  the  race  the  idea  is 
evidently  contained  that  the  cultivation  of  varied  qualities  should 
not  permanently  separate  but  should  make  each  cultivated  tribe 
give  its  own  peculiar  ministry  to  the  common  good.  The  modern 
gathering  of  the  race  into  a  great  brotherhood,  that  wonderful 
evolution  of  the  race  now  going  on  before  our  eyes,  is  the  outcome 
of  the  ancient  scattering  of  the  race  over  the  whole  earth.  All 
lands  have  been  subdued  and  cultivated,  each  particular  land  has 
had  its  own  peculiar  products,  provides  for  its  own  inhabitants  and 
for  the  rest  of  the  world  as  well.  Means  of  communication  have 
been  devised,  in  ancient  times  the  caravan  creeping  over  plains 
and  mountains,  the  timid  sails  sometimes  venturing  out  of  sight 
of  land,  in  our  times  the  iron  rails  over  all  continents,  the  funnel 
smoke  on  all  oceans.  Tools  have  been  developed,  and  the  raw 
products  of  separate  lands  have  been  turned  into  fabrics  for  all 
lands.     Travel  has  been  the  handmaid  of  education,  and  all  his- 

8 


104  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tories,  languages  and  conditions  of  the  different  branches  of  the 
race  have  become  the  possession  of  mankind,  the  great  brother- 
hood. But  not  only  has  the  world  become  small  in  our  days,  its  dif- 
ferent lands  being  brought  together  in  close  neighborhood,  its  dif- 
ferent tribes  becoming  acquainted  with  each  other  and  minister- 
ing to  each  other,  but  the  commingling  of  tribes  and  races  which 
soon  followed  the  scattering,  and  became  more  manifest  in  the 
middle  history,  has  become  a  prominent  feature  of  recent  times. 

In  recent  times  too  the  character  of  this  commingling  of  races 
has  been  entirely  changed.  In  the  beginning  of  history  and  in  the 
middle  periods  it  was  largely  a  warlike  process,  in  our  times  it 
is  largely  a  peaceful  one.  The  separating  tribes  were  genetic,  the 
few  individuals  who  became  absorbed  from  other  tribes  did  not 
change  this  character,  the  growth  of  the  tribe  was  by  the  natural 
increase  of  the  birth-rate  over  the  death-rate,  the  tribe  was  of  one 
blood.  Then  there  may  have  flowed  over  this  peaceful  tribe  a  more 
numerous  tribe,  or  a  more  warlike  one  and  the  peaceful  tribe 
became  absorbed  in  the  stronger,  the  stronger  thus  became  less 
genetic,  the  commingling  of  blood  went  on  and  a  demotic  tribe  or 
nation  arose.  Even  when  it  was  an  inundation  of  mere  numbers 
the  element  of  war  was  prominent,  generally  it  was  a  conquering 
race,  many  males  of  the  feebler  race  were  killed,  the  women  became 
the  mothers  of  a  new  race,  and  the  demotic  nation,  the  nation  of 
commingled  blood,  possessed  the  combined  strength  of  both  tribes. 
There  have  been  many  such  migrations  and  conquests  in  the  past 
and  they  have  wrought  wonderful  changes  in  the  history  of  the 
race,  generally  the  demotic  nation  has  been  a  stronger  nation  or 
race  than  either  of  the  genetic  ones.  Civilization  generally  has 
been  developed  by  a  genetic  nation  becoming  largely  demotic.  It 
is  rare  if  ever  that  a  civilization  has  grown  in  a  genetic  nation 
occupying  its  own  land.  The  original  inhabitants  of  the  Nile  and 
the  Euphrates  Valley,  had  a  large  inflow  of  other  peoples  before 
their  civilization  flourished.  The  Aryans  flowed  down  upon  the 
Dravidians  and  other  native  tribes  before  any  civilization  arose 
in  India.  Other  Aryan  waves  flowed  over  the  original  inhabitants 
of  Greece,  and  later  on  over  the  original  inhabitants  of  Rome, 


DISPERSION  OF  THE  RACE  105 

before  Grecian  and  Roman  civilizations  sprang  into  their  splendid 
careers,  and  still  another  Aryan  wave  flowed  over  the  native  tribes 
of  Northern  Europe  before  the  French,  the  English  and  the  Ger- 
manic civilizations  arose.  Those  comminglings  of  peoples  standing 
nearest  to  us  and  having  most  influence  on  the  modern  movements 
of  the  race  are  the  inundation  of  the  native  tribes  of  England  by 
the  Saxons,  the  Danes  and  the  Normans. 

The  present  migration  of  nations  is  a  peaceful  one ;  the  inunda- 
tion of  Europe  by  the  Goths  and  Vandals  was  with  fire  and  sword  ; 
the  migration  of  the  nations  of  Europe  to  the  New  World,  to 
South  Africa  and  to  the  Great  Islands  of  the  South  Pacific  is  with 
the  sword  beaten  into  the  plow  share.  None  the  less,  perhaps  all 
the  more,  it  is  a  most  remarkable  and  wide  spread  movement,  and 
fraught  with  mighty  destinies.  We  see  some  of  its  most  prom- 
inent features  in  our  own  country.  The  largest  and  most  varied 
inflow  of  this  great  race  movement  comes  to  our  own  country,  and 
the  experience  of  the  past  migrations  and  of  the  civilizations  grow- 
ing from  them  project  a  vision  upon  our  future  of  a  stronger  race 
and  a  more  splendid  civilization  than  the  world  has  ever  yet  seen. 

Our  population  increases  in  two  ways:  First,  the  genetic  by 
the  excess  of  births  over  deaths.  In  this  we  do  not  rank  as  high 
as  some  of  the  nations  of  Europe.  Our  birth  rate  is  twenty-seven 
per  one  thousand,  and  our  death  rate  nineteen,  our  increase  is 
eight,  while  Great  Britain  has  an  increase  of  ten,  Germany  twelve, 
Italy  eleven,  Norway  has  the  largest  increase  of  all,  fourteen,  and 
France  the  smallest,  only  one.  On  the  other  hand  we  lose  hardly 
any  by  emigration,  while  Great  Britain  of  its  gain  of  four  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  a  year  loses  thirty-two  per  cent,  Germany  loses 
twenty  per  cent,  Norway  loses  fifty  per  cent,  and  France  loses 
only  five.  The  second  way  in  which  our  population  increases  is 
the  demotic;  by  the  immigration  of  other  nationalities  and  the 
commingling  of  races.  The  total  population  of  the  last  census,  that 
of  1900  was  over  seventy-six  millions.  Of  this  number  over  ten 
millions  were  white  persons  born  in  foreign  lands,  over  ten  mil- 
lions were  born  of  foreign  parents,  and  over  five  millions  were 
born  of  mixed  parents,  foreign  and  native.     About  one-third  of 


io6  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

our  total  population  was  born  in  foreign  lands  or  of  foreign  born 
parents — one  or  both.  Since  the  year  1820,  when  the  first  record 
of  immigration  was  made,  up  to  1906,  over  twenty-three  millions 
of  immigrants  have  been  added  to  our  population.  This  is  a  much 
larger  immigration  of  the  foreign  born  than  that  of  the  Goths  and 
the  Vandals  over  Europe,  or  that  has  ever  occurred  before  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  it  is  certainly  a  note-worthy  movement  of  the 
race.  Our  population  therefore  is  largely  demotic  and  presents 
much  unlikeness,  it  has  great  varieties  of  race  qualities,  still  it  is 
a  unity.  This  unity  is  not  affected  by  any  external  pressure  either 
of  oppression  or  of  aggression,  but  by  a  consciousness  of  kind,  a  com- 
pelling power  from  within  which  moulds  the  different  race  quali- 
ties into  a  prevailing  type  approved  by  the  social  mind,  into  one 
society.  This  is  done  through  the  genetic  increase  of  the  nation, 
the  population  is  perpetuated  mainly  by  the  birth  rate.  The  great 
majority  of  the  seventy-six  millions,  the  two-thirds  of  our  popula- 
tion were  native  born,  and  most  of  them  had  in  their  veins  some 
mixture  of  the  blood  of  the  colonists  and  of  those  coming  here 
before   the  year   1820. 

But  the  colonists  themselves  were  demotic,  while  we  may  regard 
them  as  the  genetic  basis  of  our  nation.  The  first  settlements  were 
made  by  the  English  in  New  England  and  Virginia,  by  the  Dutch 
in  New  York,  and  by  the  Swedes  in  Delaware,  in  a  short  time  the 
English  immigration  preponderated,  as  it  has  done  until  recent 
times.  The  English  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  were  an  amalga- 
mation of  the  races  of  northern  Europe.  The  Saxons,  Angles, 
Jutes  and  other  German  tribes  descended  upon  England  soon  after 
the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  old  war-like  way  and  almost 
exterminated  the  original  British  tribes,  or  drove  them  into  Wales 
and  Scotland,  "a  Celtic  fringe"  Carlyle  calls  them.  With  these 
the  conquerors  intermarried  and  also  with  the  Celts  of  Ireland. 
Then  followed  the  invasion  of  the  Danes  and  the  Normans,  and  a 
small  but  continuous  peaceful  inflow  of  Flemings,  Dutch  and 
French.  It  was  this  English  speaking  amalgamation  of  the  races  of 
northern  Europe  that  settled  the  colonies  of  America.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  there  was  a  small  immigration  of  Scotch,  Irish, 


DISPERSION  OF  THE  RACE  107 

Huguenots,  and  Germans.  In  the  igtli  century,  from  1820  when 
the  records  began  to  be  kept,  the  immigration  became  large,  espe- 
cially of  the  Irish,  the  Germans  and  the  Scandanavians.  This 
immigration  to  our  land  was  from  the  very  races  from  which  the 
English  race  had  been  commingled  during  a  thousand  years,  it  was 
a  reblending  of  the  old  original  stocks,  and  nothing  could  be  bet- 
ter or  more  normal  for  the  formation  of  a  strong  nationality  from 
a  social  point  of  view. 

This  continued  up  until  1880  when  a  great  change  began  and 
has  ever  since  increased  in  the  racial  characteristics  of  our  immi- 
gration. Figures  sometimes  tell  impressive  stories  even  of  race 
movements.  In  twenty  years  from  1881  to  1901 — the  change  in 
immigration    is   noteworthy. 

Germany  sent  in  1881 — 210,000 — and  in  1901  only  18,000. 

Great  Britain  sent  in  1881 — 150,000 — and  in  1901  only  48,000. 

Scandinavia  sent  in  1881 — 73,000 — and  in  1901  only  28,000. 

The  decline  through  the  twenty  years  was  steady.  On  the 
other  hand  the  increase  has  been  steady  as  follows: 

Italy  sent  in  1881  only  5,000  and  in  190 1   100,000. 

Russia  sent  in  1881  only  10,000  and  in  1901  90,000. 

Hungary  sent  in  1881  only  27,000  and  in  1901  114,000. 

With  the  immigration  from  the  south  of  Europe  becoming 
larger  than  from  the  north,  with  the  immigration  from  Hungary, 
Northern  Russia  and  Italy  supplemented  by  a  growing  number 
from  Greece,  Syria,  Armenia  and  the  Levant,  a  new  problem  arises. 
Ethnically  these  races  are  alien  both  to  the  ethnic  basis  and  the 
demotic  character  of  our  population  up  to  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago.  We  are  northern  races  and  ours  is  an  occidental  civilization. 
These  are  southern  races,  and  largely  theirs  is  an  oriental  civiliza- 
tion. Whether  the  new  amalgamation  can  be  made  or  is  worth 
making  may  receive  different  theoretic  answers ;  but  it  is  a  race 
movement  that  is  seen  to  make  its  own  answer.  The  immigration 
last  year  was  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  migration  of  the  race, 
over  one  million  immigrants,  a  large  proportion  being  from  these 
southern  oriental  races,  entered  our  land. 

Our  land   is  nowhere  near  crowded.     The  New  World   can 


io8  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

sustain  a  population  equal  to  the  present  population  of  the  entire 
globe.  We  have  in  the  United  States,  stretching  across  the  broad 
belt  of  the  continent,  a  population  of  only  eighty  millions,  when 
we  can  easily  support  a  population  as  large  as  that  of  Europe.  We 
are  living  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  mighty  movements  of  the  race. 
It  would  be  wrong  to  try  to  stop  it,  we  would  be  fighting  against 
the  manifest  plan  of  God.  But  it  is  due  to  the  waiting  peoples,  to 
restless  humanity,  that  we  should  intelligently  make  the  best  of  it 
and  see  that  the  commingling  is  an  uplifting  of  the  race  toward 
a  spirit  of  brotherhood.  Our  present  laws  controlling  immigration 
are  evidently  running  in  wise  directions.  We  are  to  guard  against 
such  a  large  inflow  of  illiteracy  as  will  lower  the  standard  of  our 
citizenship,  we  should  guard  against  such  a  designed  importation 
of  cheap  labor  as  will  lower  the  standard  of  our  living,  we  should 
keep  out  the  pauper  and  criminal  classes,  for  surely  those  socie- 
ties that  have  fostered  these  by  indifference  or  unwise  action  should 
bear  their  self  imposed  burden,  and  we  should  guard  the  health 
of  the  nation  from  infectious  diseases,  for  the  same  reason,  since 
God  requires  those  who  break  His  laws  to  bear  their  penalties. 
The  situation  is  certainly  one  of  great  hopefulness,  for  ourselves 
and  for  the  race.  Hungary  is  perhaps  the  most  progressive  coun- 
try in  Europe.  Italy  once  ruled  the  world,  the  strength  of  the 
race  has  not  run  out.  Greece  has  surely  a  future.  The  Russian, 
especially  the  Russian  Jew,  is  an  element  of  force,  and  the  Orient 
gave  us  our  religion,  its  reflective  mind  will  make  a  good  mixture 
with  our  occidental  energy.  Great  Britain  has  given  us  by  far 
the  larger  proportion  of  our  immigrants.  Germany  and  Scanda- 
navia  come  next,  now  Hungary  and  Italy  are  coming  to  the 
front.  The  children  of  these  latter  countries  are  as  strong  phys- 
ically and  as  bright  intellectually  as  those  of  the  former.  The 
process  of  assimilation  is  amazing,  first  comes  American  dress, 
then  language,  customs  and  spirit  and  in  a  couple  of  genera- 
tions they  are  almost  as  Americanized  as  the  rest  of  us.  When 
these  strong  races  are  thoroughly  commingled  into  our  strong 
American  race  with  one  language,  and  one  form  of  government, 
really  one  nation,  possessing  this  broad  belt  of  the  continent  and 


DISPERSION  OF  THE  RACE  109 

as  large  in  population  as  Europe  is  now,  it  will  be  a  nation  of 
great  influence  in  the  earth.  Our  separate  states  will  give  a  large 
local  government  of  self  controlled  people,  and  our  central  gov- 
ernment will  combine  these  states  into  one  Nation,  where  the 
people  are  the  rulers. 

There  is  a  problem  which  faces  the  American  people  of  the 
greatest  import,  that  of  the  negro  race.  Other  races  have  come 
to  this  country  voluntarily,  -leaving  their  own  lands  because  of 
heavy  pressure,  or  coming  to  our  land  because  of  great  attrac- 
tions, but  taking  the  initiative  themselves,  and  so  showing  at  the 
outset  a  strong  and  independent  character.  This  can  be  said  in 
varying  degree  of  all  immigration,  it  takes  enterprise,  courage, 
self-devotion  and  adventurous  spirit  to  break  away  from  the  land 
of  one's  birth,  from  the  associations  of  many  generations  and  start 
out  over  the  seas  for  a  strange  land  and  a  new  life.  But  the  negro 
was  brought  here  against  his  will.  The  slave  trade  flourished 
from  1650  to  1750.  We  can  hardly  understand  how  in  the  begin- 
ning men  having  any  Christianity  at  all  could  have  engaged  in  a 
trade  of  rum  and  guns  for  men  and  women,  but  the  purchase 
was  made  of  captives  taken  in  war  and  held  by  savage  negro 
tribes,  and  it  was  perhaps  thought  that  the  condition  of  slaves  on 
ship  board  or  in  the  new  land  could  not  be  worse  than  that  kind 
of  captivity.  But  the  trade  was  so  profitable  that  it  soon  degen- 
erated into  stealing  men  and  women  from  peaceful  tribes,  and 
in  organizing  raids  to  capture  such  for  slaves,  and  there  could 
not  be  any  conceivable  ameliorating  influences  in  such  a  degrad- 
ing business.  Turner  in  his  masterpiece,  the  great  painting  "The 
Slave-Ship"  makes  all  nature,  the  sky,  the  sea  ablaze  with  the 
wrath  of  God  against  this  awful  sin  of  man  against  his  brother 
man. 

Under  the  retributive  justice  of  God  our  nation  has  paid  in 
groans  and  blood  a  terrible  penalty  in  the  freeing  of  the  slaves 
and  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  At  the  close  of  the  war  it 
was  believed  by  some  that  the  negro  race  would  dwindle  and  pass 
away.  Instead  it  has  greatly  increased  and  will  undoubtedly 
remain.     It  was  feared  also  by  many  that  the  negro  would  migrate 


no  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

north,  this  was  contrary  to  the  race  characteristic,  a  southern  race 
remains  in  the  semi-tropic  south.  The  center  of  the  negro  pop- 
ulation is  now  in  the  north  of  Alabama  having  moved  south- 
westward  since  the  war.  The  problem  is  one  for  the  whole 
nation,  no  part  can  be  exempt,  but  it  bears  with  the  heaviest 
weight  upon  the  southern  states,  who  should  have  the  sympathy 
and  intelligent  assistance  of  the  whole  nation.  There  are  now 
about  ten  millions  of  our  negro  population.  About  one-half  of 
the  southern  negroes  are  illiterate.  In  spite  of  the  wrong  done 
to  their  ancestors  in  bringing  them  to  this  country  it  cannot  be 
questioned  that  these  millions  of  their  descendants  are  much  better 
off  than  had  the  race  remained  in  Africa.  They  have  the  language, 
the  customs  and  many  advantages  of  our  civilization,  they  are 
not  barbarians  but  civilized,  they  are  not  pagans,  fetish  worship- 
ers as  they  would  have  been,  but  are  Christians,  though  not  of  the 
finest  grade.  It  cannot  be  questioned  either  that  their  labor  has 
enriched  to  a  great  degree  and  does  still  enrich  the  southern  land. 
It  is  better  for  them,  it  is  better  for  our  land  in  many  respects  that 
they  are  here.  But  it  is  different  with  this  race  than  all  other 
races  in  our  land,  they  cannot  and  they  should  not  be  amalga- 
mated into  our  race.  It  is  alleged  with  much  ground  for  it,  that 
amalgamation  is  rapidly  going  on,  that  one- third  of  the  negroes 
of  the  south  are  mulattoes,  black  blood  mixed  with  white.  But 
this  has  been  brought  about  in  illegitimate  ways,  largely  by  the 
wrongs  wrought  upon  black  women  by  white  men,  and  the  more 
the  negro  race  is  elevated  in  morals  and  in  economic  conditions 
the  more  black  women  will  cease  to  yield  themselves  to  this 
degradation.  Then  too  that  which  is  so  strong  in  the  white  race 
will  be  equally  strong  in  the  black  race,  a  race  repulsion  from 
legitimate  amalgamation.  The  further  Christianizing  the  negro 
race  and  the  more  Christian  the  relation  of  the  white  race  to  it, 
the  more  impossible  will  be  the  commingling  of  the  two  Into  one 
blood. 

Benjamin  Kidd.  the  author  of  the  great  book,  Social  Evolu- 
tion, has  made  a  special  study  of  the  probable  future  of  the  negro 
race,  and  he  thinks  that  the  negroes  of  the  United  States  are  in 


DISPERSION  OF  THE  RACE  iii 

a  position  to  elevate  themselves  and  to  have  a  large  influence 
in  the  elevation  of  the  race  in  its  native  home,  Africa.  He  does 
not  have  any  wild  idea  of  the  migration  of  our  negroes  back  to 
Africa,  the  vision  of  the  impossible  that  has  claimed  so  many 
philanthropic  souls,  but  the  sane  view  of  a  part  being  elevated  in 
favorable  circumstances  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole.  This  would 
be  in  the  line  of  so  much  of  God's  plan  for  the  whole  race  of 
mankind,  with  His  overruling  the  wickedness  of  men  for  the  good 
of  their  own  descendants  and  of  the  rest  of  mankind.  Mr.  Kidd 
concludes  that  there  can  be  no  colonization  of  the  tropical  lands 
of  central  Africa  by  the  white  race.  He  concludes  also  that  one 
of  the  most  significant  phases  of  the  future  economic  rivalry  of 
the  peoples  of  the  world  will  have  its  base  in  the  tropics,  and 
largely  in  central  Africa.  This  rivalry  will  be  in  providing  the 
two  large  essentials  for  the  race,  food  and  clothing.  Rice  is  already 
the  principal  food  of  one-third  of  the  human  race.  The  recent 
war  between  Russia  and  Japan  has  shown  the  world  the  advantage 
of  the  simple  commissariat  of  Japan,  that  rice  is  a  good  food  in 
war  as  well  as  in  peace.  Cotton  is  becoming  the  principal  basis 
of  clothing.  European  nations  have  nearly  quadrupled  their  use 
of  cotton  in  the  last  century.  China  and  other  eastern  nations 
have  greatly  enlarged  their  demand  for  cotton.  Already  the  nor- 
mal demand  for  raw  cotton  is  far  in  advance  of  the  normal  sup- 
ply. The  cotton  area  of  the  United  States  is  large,  but  new 
areas  of  cotton  culture  are  demanded,  and  there  are  none  better 
than  those  of  Central  Africa.  The  cultivation  of  both  rice  and 
cotton  is  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  negro  race.  The  great  prob- 
lem of  the  world  for  its  coming  food  and  clothing  supply  is  the 
training  of  the  negro  race  for  industry  and  business  in  providing 
rice  and  cotton  for  the  whole  race.  Mr.  Kidd  says,  "no  more 
powerful  influence  can  operate  in  the  elevation  of  a  people  than 
race  consciousness  working  towards  a  worthy  ideal  by  clearly 
conceived  means".  The  quickening  intelligence  of  the  negro  race 
will  see  the  opportunity  before  it,  the  door  God  is  opening  before 
it.  In  our  country  this  intelligence  must  first  awaken.  Here 
the  negro  race  is  in  contact  with  the  energetic  Anglo  Saxon  race, 
with  the  strenuous  enterprising  American  race,  and  in  our  southern 


112  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

states  it  has  splendid  opportunities  for  the  cultivation  of  the  indus- 
trial and  business  qualities  it  needs.  The  development  of  the 
negro  race  consciousness,  of  negro  race  ethos  around  ideals  of  this 
kind,  has  the  intelligent  energetic  environment  it  needs  in  our  own 
land.  This  development  can  be  in  the  United  States,  in  our  own 
southern  states  better  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  The  com- 
ing of  the  race  to  this  land  in  the  far  away  past  may  have  had 
this  present  bright  outlook  and  the  splendid  future  development 
wrapped  up  in  it  as  a  magnificent  plant  is  wrapped  up  in  an 
unpromising  unattractive  seed.  The  transfer  and  spread  of  this 
race  consciousness  when  once  awakened  to  the  home  of  the  race, 
Africa,  the  undeveloped  continent  of  wonderful  possibilities,  will 
follow  naturally  both  by  direct  immigration  and  by  direct  influ- 
ence. The  rice  and  cotton  of  our  land  will  not  continue  to 
supply  the  world,  the  intelligent  industry  that  cultivates  these  in 
our  land  will  seek  the  new  fields,  and  will  stimulate  the  kindred 
race  already  dwelling  in  those  fields  of  the  rich  tropics,  the  cen- 
tral Africa  land.  In  the  scattering  of  the  race  Canaan  was  to  be 
a  servant  of  servants.  In  the  gathering  of  the  race  the  curse 
becomes  a  blessing  as  so  often  is  the  case,  and  Canaan  has  the 
honor  of  feeding  and  clothing  the  race,  of  ministering  to  the 
welfare  of  the  great  brotherhood  of  which  he  forms  a  part. 

As  the  scattering  of  the  races  was  not  arbitrary  but  according 
to  natural  causes  so  also  was  the  shortening  of  human  life.  The 
account  given  is  remarkable.  We  may  not  fully  understand  the 
extent  of  it  but  the  causes  are  evident,  the  violence  and  lust,  the 
crowding  together  that  forced  emigration  and  the  hardship  of 
such  emigration,  the  careless  indifference  to  the  laws  of  health, 
and  the  rise  and  spread  of  contagious  diseases,  all  departures 
from  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  in  the  care  of  one  another. 

In  modern  days  there  is  a  marked  lengthening  of  human  life  in 
civilized  lands  and  spreading  to  all  lands.  Contagious  diseases 
are  checked,  violence  and  lust  are  restrained,  the  community  seeks 
the  health  of  the  individual,  attention  is  paid  to  the  laws  of  health, 
the  spirit  of  brotherhood  leads  each  individual  to  care  not  only 
for  himself  but  for  all  others,  and  each  higher  portion  of  the  race 
to  care  for  all  the  race. 


PART  III.     THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  OR  THE  PAR- 
TICULAR   SOCIETY   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

CHAPTER  X. 

The    Modern    Sociological   View    Point. 

We  are  not  to  expect  too  much  from  the  sociology  of  the  Bible. 
We  are  not  to  look  for  a  society  formed  around  a  special  revela- 
tion of  God  and  under  His  special  care  as  being  entirely  different 
in  kind  from  all  other  society.  All  society  is  formed  under  the 
laws  of  God  in  the  nature  of  man  as  a  social  being.  All  society 
is  formed  by  the  unfolding  of  man's  powers  in  relation  to  his  fel- 
lows as  they  are  drawn  into  exercise  by  the  circumstances  of  his 
life.  The  supernatural  is  never  antagonistic  to  the  natural,  it  only 
goes  beyond  it  and  above  it,  it  adds  something  to  it.  The  basis  is 
always  natural.  God  made  the  natural.  He  is  in  the  natural. 
He  does  not  cast  aside  that  which  He  made  and  that  in  which  He 
is  present  when  He  makes  a  special  revelation  of  Himself,  and 
takes  under  His  special  care  a  certain  portion  of  the  race.  Society 
in  general  is  natural.  The  supernatural  revelation  of  God  to  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible  does  not  set  aside  the  natural  society 
but  adds  new  principles  and  forces  to  it.  Nor  as  we  have  already 
seen,  and  should  always  bear  in  mind,  does  He,  in  giving  a  special 
revelation  and  care  to  a  certain  portion  of  the  race,  cast  aside  the 
rest  of  mankind.  It  is  rather  His  way,  and  so  conceivably  the 
best  way,  of  giving  that  revelation  and  care  to  the  whole  race. 
The  portion  selected  for  the  special  revelation  and  care  are  thereby 
receiving  a  special  culture  not  solely  for  themselves,  nor  mainly, 
but  especially  that  they  may  be  God's  messengers  and  leaders  to  the 
highest  well  being  of  the  whole  race.     Abraham  is  chosen  that 


114  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

through  him  God  may  bless  the  whole  world,  this  is  expressly 
stated  as  God's  plan.  He  said  to  Abraham  at  the  beginning — 
"Be  thou  a  blessing.  In  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed". 

In  the  evolution  of  society  as  in  all  evolution  He  who  formed 
the  plan,  watches  its  unfolding  and  when  needed  implants  new 
force.  So  vegetable  life  was  introduced,  and  animal  life,  and  man's 
life,  and  in  the  unfolding  of  man's  social  life,  in  the  evolution  of 
society,  God  as  needed  introduces  the  life  that  unfolds  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Theistic  and  Christian  evolution  accounts  for 
the  past  and  the  present,  but  is  not  content  with  these,  it  looks 
forward  to  the  development  of  the  society  of  the  whole  race  of  man 
into  that  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Because  this  is  the  claim  of  the 
Bible,  because  this  alone  accounts  fully  for  the  past  and  has  a  well 
grounded  hope  of  the  future,  the  science  of  sociology  may  find  in 
the  society  of  the  Bible  wide  information  and  lofty  incentives. 
The  Bible  supplements  this  science  as  it  does  all  the  other  sciences, 
it  does  not  overthrow  or  change  nature  but  it  adds  new  views  and 
principles  to  it.  The  knowledge  of  general  society  thus  becomes  a 
proper  view  point  for  the  study  of  the  particular  society  of  the 
Bible. 

There  is  certainly  a  strong  analogy  between  society  and  an 
organism,  strong  enough  to  justfy  the  organic  conception  of  society; 
but  it  is  only  an  analogy.  The  great  lecturer  from  the  old  world 
whose  first  lecture  at  one  of  our  universities  recently  was  upon 
"Society  is  an  organism",  plunged  over  the  verge  of  analogy  into 
open  space.  Society  is  marvelously  like  an  organism,  any  animal 
for  instance,  even  a  man,  in  at  least  six  particulars. 

Society  in  the  first  place  is  like  an  organism  in  that  it  is  not 
dead  but  living,  it  grows  and  acts.  Any  future  progress  must  be 
in  the  nature  of  growth.  Any  revolution,  even  if  in  but  one 
department,  as  in  government,  must  be  in  the  nature  of  evolution, 
got  of  destruction,  an  evolution  of  government,  not  a  bringing  in 
of  anarchy.  We  may  pull  down  a  wall  and  build  another,  but 
we  cannot  cut  down  a  tree  and  set  it  up  again.  All  we  can  do 
with  an  organism  is  to  foster  its  development.     It  may  be  pressing 


MODERN  POINT  OF  VIEW  115 

an  analogy,  but  it  would  seem  as  if  anarchy  in  aiming  to  destroy 
all  government  is  like  cutting  off  a  man's  head  in  expectation  that 
the  body  would  be  better  without  it. 

Society  in  the  second  place  is  like  an  organism  in  that  it  is  made 
up  of  a  multitude  of  living  cells  or  individuals.  The  human  body 
has  in  its  structure  billions  and  billions  of  living  cells.  The  life 
of  the  body  is  in  the  cells,  if  these  are  in  full  vigor  the  body 
thrives.  A  living  body  cannot  be  made  of  dead  cells  nor  a  strong 
body  of  weak  cells.  Many  are  constantly  dying  and  being  carried 
away  and  their  places  are  being  filled  with  new  living  cells,  thus 
the  body  lives  and  attains  maturity,  when  the  new  cells  do  not 
supply  the  removed  ones  the  body  declines.  So  society,  the  whole 
race,  and  each  smaller  group,  is  composed  of  individuals,  the  race 
of  a  billion  and  a  half,  our  nation  of  eighty  millions,  our  great 
city  of  four  millions.  Here  too  the  life  is  in  the  cells,  the  indi- 
viduals. A  living  society  cannot  be  made  of  dead  individuals,  a 
strong  society  cannot  be  made  of  weak  individuals.  Many  of 
these  are  constantly  dying  but  their  places  are  filled  with  new  indi- 
viduals, thus  society  lives  and  attains  maturity.  If  in  any  society 
the  supply  of  new  individuals  does  not  equal  the  removals  by  death, 
the  society  diminishes  and  is  in  danger  of  decadence.  So  the  city, 
the  nation,  the  race,  grows  or  shrinks. 

Society  in  the  third  place  is  like  an  organism  in  that  these  living 
cells  or  individuals  are  arranged  in  distinguishable  parts  or  organs. 
The  cells  in  the  organism  are  said  to  be  the  same  in  kind  and  to 
differ  only  in  degree  and  in  their  relations  to  each  other,  some  go 
to  form  the  bone  frame  and  some  the  nerve  system,  some  are  in 
the  feet  and  some  in  the  arms,  some  are  in  the  heart  and  some 
in  the  brain.  So  in  society  the  individuals  are  the  same  in  kind, 
they  too  differ  only  in  degree  and  in  their  relations  to  each  other. 
Some  are  farmers,  some  are  manufacturers,  some  are  merchants, 
some  are  teachers  and  some  are  scholars,  some  are  rulers  and  some 
are  ruled;  some  societies  are  far  more  complex  than  others,  but 
the  cells  are  the  same,  individual  men  and  women  and  children. 

Society  in  the  fourth  place  is  like  an  organism  in  that  these  parts 
or  organs  co-operate  with  each  other.     A  Roman  orator  quelled 


ii6  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

a  mob  eager  to  overthrow  the  nobility,  and  the  army,  by  showing 
that  while  the  hands  fight  for  the  body  the  stomach  must  strengthen 
the  hands.  The  Apostle  Paul  said  of  the  Church  "The  head  can- 
not say  to  the  foot,  I  have  no  need  of  thee". 

Society  in  the  fifth  place  is  like  an  organism  in  that  its  com- 
plete life  can  only  be  realized  by  complete  co-operation  of  all  the 
parts  and  organs.  Life  in  the  body  is  low  if  any  organ  or  part 
fails  of  its  full  co-operation.  If  a  man's  liver  is  sluggish  his  whole 
body  is  affected.  If  a  man  has  a  paralyzed  leg  he  is  so  much  less 
a  full  man.  So  in  society  a  labor  strike  or  a  capitalistic  lock-out 
is  the  paralysis  of  an  organ,  and  its  lack  of  co-operation  brings 
the  whole  society  into  a  limping  condition.  So  an  overgrowth 
of  wealth  and  learning  or  of  poverty  and  ignorance  that  withdraws 
individuals  or  classes  from  normal  social  co-operation  affects  the 
general  society  as  the  sluggish  liver  does  the  body.  If  the  organ- 
ism has  an  intelligent  oversight  of  itself  as  a  man  should  have,  he 
will  investigate  the  cause  of  the  sluggish  liver  and  of  the  paralyzed 
leg,  and  correct  them,  he  will  foster  normal  brain  and  muscular 
development,  he  will  cultivate  the  healthy  growth  and  the  har- 
monious co-operation  of  all  his  parts.  So  society  may  and  should 
exercise  its  intelligent  oversight  and  care  of  all  its  parts  and 
organs,  and  secure  their  harmonious  co-operation,  for  only  in  this 
way  can  anything  like  an  ideal  society  be  reached.  The  easy 
theory  of  "letting  things  alone"  is  not  wise  for  man's  full  health 
and  development,  for  his  body  or  any  part  of  it,  for  his  mind  or 
his  soul ;  neither  is  such  a  theory  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  so- 
siety.  Let  the  body  alone  and  the  liver  is  apt  to  become  sluggish 
and  to  stay  so  and  grow  worse;  intelligently  observe  the  laws  of 
health,  of  the  kind  and  manner  of  taking  food,  of  exercise,  and  of 
rest,  and  the  liver  will  probably  keep  in  good  order.  Let  society 
alone  and  the  growth  of  poverty  and  wealth  may  destroy  its 
welfare;  intelligently  observe  the  laws  of  social  well  being  and 
the  abnormal  will  give  place  to  the  normal. 

Society  in  the  sixth  place  is  like  an  organism  in  that  its  parts 
and  organs  are  arranged  in  at  least  four  great  systems  and  its  full 
welfare  depends  upon   the  complete  co-operation  of  these  great 


MODERN  POINT  OF  VIEW  117 

systems.  In  a  man's  body  the  highest  organism  we  know  of,  there 
is  the  sustaining  system,  the  stomach  that  receives  food  and  ex- 
tracts upbuilding  properties  from  it;  there  is  the  transporting 
system,  the  heart  that  sends  nourishment  to  all  parts  of  the  body 
through  the  circulation  of  the  blood ;  there  is  the  communicating 
system,  the  nerves  that  carry  their  messages  and  commands  to  all 
parts  of  the  body,  making  the  various  parts  an  organic  whole ; 
and  there  is  the  regulating  system,  the  marvellous  nerve  cells 
in  the  cortex  of  the  brain,  forming  the  tent  of  the  Commander 
in  Chief,  where  all  messages  are  delivered. 

So  in  society  there  is  first  the  sustaining  system.  Accordingly 
the  physical  basis  of  society  is  the  country  where  the  society 
dwells,  this  will  include  farms,  mines,  fisheries,  and  it  includes 
also  all  the  manufacturing  necessary  to  prepare  the  various 
products  of  these  for  man's  use,  the  preparing  for  future  days  by 
the  laying  up  of  stores  for  man's  need ;  and  the  laying  the  basis  for 
wealth  from  the  products  of  the  home  land.  In  society  there  is 
in  the  second  place  the  transporting  system.  The  exchange  of 
the  products  of  the  soil  and  the  handy  work  of  man;  the  trades 
located  in  the  society  or  passing  to  and  from  it  to  other  societies; 
the  stores,  the  factories,  the  roads,  the  water  ways,  the  caravans 
of  old,  the  trains  and  steamships  of  today.  The  systems  overlap 
here  as  in  the  organism.  For  the  freeness  and  fulness  of  exchange 
it  is  necessary  to  have  a  universal  standard  of  value,  the  money 
of  the  market.  It  is  proper  also  to  have  a  plan  for  the  trans- 
mission of  wealth  from  generation  to  generation.  These  must  be 
determined  by  the  regulating  system.  While  the  medium  of 
exchange  is  fixed  by  the  regulating  system  the  judging  of  the  rela- 
tion of  various  products  to  this  standard  depends  upon  news  from 
various  trading  centers  which  come  through  the  communicating 
system.  In  society  there  is  in  the  third  place  the  communicating 
system.  It  is  like  the  nervous  system  in  man.  Simple  it  may 
have  been  in  former  days,  the  rumor  passing  from  neighborhood  to 
neighborhood,  the  postman's  visit  at  rare  intervals,  but  bewilder- 
ing in  its  complexity  in  our  modern  days,  as  the  modern  especially 
the  American  man's  nervous  system  is  high  strung  and  complex 


ii8  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

compared  with  that  of  the  ancient,  especially  the  oriental  man. 
The  social  nervous  system  has  mails,  telegraphs,  telephones,  teleg- 
raphones.  The  marvelous  daily  press  is  itself  a  complex  com- 
municating system,  it  has  its  agencies  for  gathering  all  kinds  of 
news  commercial,  political,  social,  religious  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  it  arranges  the  news  and  comments  on  it  and  directs 
thought  on  all  subjects  in  its  editorial  centers;  and  it  then  has  its 
many  agencies  for  scattering  the  whole  broadcast  among  the 
people.  An  individual  may  be  a  part  of  several  different  channels, 
a  terminal  cell  and  a  mediating  cell  as  well,  a  teacher,  a  preacher, 
a  writer  of  books,  an  editor  of  a  paper,  a  member  of  various  clubs 
or  associations  for  various  purposes  of  influencing  public  opinion, 
of   communicating  psychical   influences. 

In  society  there  is  in  the  fourth  place  a  regulating  system;  it  is 
closely  allied  with  the  communicating  system,  may  almost  be 
confused  with  it  in  many  instances,  as  the  brain  is  a  central  office 
of  the  nerve  system.  But  in  the  central  office  there  is  that  mysteri- 
ous force  the  commander  in  chief,  the  personality  we  call  a  man, 
the  man  presiding  over  the  nerves.  This  regulating  system  in 
society  is  the  power  of  control,  the  control  by  public  opinion,  by 
the  State,  by  the  school,  by  the  Church,  by  the  parents.  In  every 
highly  organized  society  there  are  rulers  and  the  ruled,  leaders 
and  the  led,  we  may  call  them  kings  and  subjects,  generals  and 
the  army,  governors  or  presidents  and  the  people,  makers  of  pub- 
lic opinion  and  the  holders  of  public  opinion,  we  may  call  them 
what  we  choose  as  long  as  we  recognize  something  like  a  con- 
trolling system,  regulating  the  whole  society  as  the  brain  unifies 
and  regulates  the  body. 

These  analogies  of  society  to  an  organism  belong  to  all  society, 
and  of  course  to  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible.  This  like 
all  society  will  be  composed  of  individuals  arranged  in  groups  and 
systems,  co-operating  with  one  another  for  the  common  welfare, 
and  the  degree  of  welfare  will  depend  largely  upon  the  degree  of 
co-operation. 

A  further  element  of  general  society  applies  equally  to  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible.    When  we  go  beyond  the  question 


MODERN  POINT  OF  VIEW  119 

What?  and  ask  the  question  How?  of  any  subject,  we  find  that 
difficulties  grow  upon  us.  It  is  easy  to  recognize  the  cells  in  an 
organism,  the  individuals  in  a  society,  and  that  they  are  grouped  in. 
difierent  parts  and  systems,  but  when  we  ask  How  do  they  become 
so  grouped  ?  how  do  the  living  cells  become  grouped  in  the  stomach 
or  in  the  nerves?  how  do  individuals  become  grouped  in  the  sus- 
taining system  or  in  the  communicating  system?  we  face  a  bewild- 
ering but  tascinating  subject.  The  ceils  in  an  organism  are 
grouped  in  two  ways,  either  by  spontaneous  action  that  is  by  their 
inherent  nature,  or  by  the  necessity  ot  outward  conditions.  This 
explains  perhaps  a  little,  but  it  is  very  little.  Huxley  quaintly  says 
"When  we  do  not  know  anything  about  the  cause  of  a  phenom- 
enon we  call  it  spontaneous".  Life  itself  has  been  described  as 
the  harmony  between  the  force  within  and  the  many  forces  without 
our  organism.  So  life  builds  up  its  own  organism  by  the  inner 
force  adapting  itself  to  outward  conditions. 

When  we  come  to  consider  how  the  many  individuals  group 
themselves  into  the  organs  and  systems  of  society,  these  two  ele- 
ments, the  spontaneous  and  the  coercive  are  supplemented  with  a 
third,  the  intentional  or  voluntary.  Man  is  said  to  be  a  "'bundle 
of  wants".  He  is  certainly  a  bundle  of  needs;  when  he  becomes 
conscious  of  these  they  are  wants,  but  frequently  he  wants  greatly 
the  things  he  does  not  need,  often  wants  most  the  thing  he  needs 
least.  The  needs  of  his  bodily  and  mental  life  are  the  spurs  of 
his  activity,  needs  real  or  imaginary,  become  the  wants  that  stir 
to  action.  Wants  arising  from  his  bodily  life  seek  satisfaction  in 
all  grades  from  unrestrained  animalism  to  perfect  bodily  health. 
Wants  arising  from  his  mental  life  seek  satisfaction  in  all  grades 
from  the  superstitious  fear  of  the  physical,  to  the  large  master>'  of 
it.  Wants  arising  from  his  esthetic  nature  seek  satisfaction  of  all 
grades  from  pleasure  in  the  hideous,  in  bold  colors  and  loud 
sounds,  to  delight  in  beauty  and  music.  Wants  arising  from  his 
religious  nature  seek  satisfaction  of  all  grades  from  fetichism  to 
spirituality.  Wants  arising  from  his  social  nature  seek  satisfaction 
of  all  grades  from  wolfishness  to  brotherhood.  Wants  arising 
from  his  capacity  to  hold  possessions  seek  satisfaction  of  all  grades- 


I20  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

from  poverty  to  wealth,  even  to  the  highest  satisfaction  he  is  cap- 
able ot  in  this  line,  to  the  trusteeship  of  wealth  for  the  general 
good.  These  varied  wants  of  man  are  met  by  the  provision  of 
the  wide  earth  in  which  he  dwells,  or  of  the  special  part  of  the 
earth  a  particular  society  makes  its  home,  met  to  be  lavishly  or 
grudgingly  supplied.  1  he  coercive  force  of  circumstances  by  sat- 
isfying and  as  well  limiting  these  wants,  has  its  binding  power  in 
society.  The  intentional  or  voluntary  element  is  also  awakened 
and  grows  influential  as  the  other  elements  flourish. 

In  society,  as  in  the  organism  welfare  consists  in  a  fair  propor- 
tion between  the  various  systems,  of  course  the  sustaining  and  the 
distributing  systems  are  more  bulky  than  the  more  delicate  and 
finer  communicating  and  regulating  systems.  Of  the  population 
of  the  United  States  35  per  cent,  are  engaged  in  agriculture,  24 
per  cent,  in  manufacturing  and  mining  and  16  per  cent,  in  trans- 
portation and  commerce.  In  Holland  and  in  Germany  about  the 
same  proportion  prevails.  But  in  England  only  10  per  cent,  are 
engaged  in  agriculture,  and  13  per  cent,  in  commerce,  while  59 
per  cent,  are  engaged  in  manufacturing,  and  in  France  the  reverse 
condition  prevails,  44  per  cent,  are  engaged  in  agriculture  and  32 
per  cent,  in  manufacturing,  and  only  9  per  cent,  in  commerce. 
Both  the  intentional  and  the  coercive  evidently  have  a  large  effect 
together  with  the  spontaneous,  in  forming  these  important  systems 
of  society. 

But  it  is  not  alone  in  the  great  systems  of  society  but  in  its 
many  complex  and  minor  groupings  as  well  that  these  three  ele- 
mental forces  have  their  exercise.  There  are  certain  greater  and 
lesser  aggregates,  that  the  spontaneous  and  coercive  elements  rule, 
those  of  race,  of  nationality,  of  common  ancestrj^  of  particular 
families,  of  all  blood  relationship.  There  are  other  greater  and 
lesser  aggregates  that  the  voluntary  elements  rule,  those  of  friend- 
ship, clubs,  societies,  political  parties,  of  religious  bodies  and  par- 
ticular churches.  There  are  other  greater  or  lesser  aggregates 
that  all  these  elements,  spontaneous,  coercive  and  voluntary  bring 
about,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  learned  and  the  unlearned,  the 
socially  high  and  the  socially  low. 


MODERN  POINT  OF  VIEW  12I 

An  organ  of  society  differs  from  an  aggregate  in  that  it  em- 
braces the  occupation  of  man,  it  performs  a  social  task.  A  man 
earns  his  living,  if  he  earns  it  at  all,  by  doing  something  for 
societ}\  In  the  formation  of  organs  all  these  elemental  forces 
generally  continue  though  with  varying  degree  of  power.  Men 
enter  their  life  occupation,  their  trade,  profession,  business  of  any 
kind  frequently  by  birth,  spontaneously,  sometimes  by  coercion, 
they  must  do  something  and  this  is  all  that  offers,  often  by  choice, 
of  many  employments  they  choose  the  one  best  adapted  to  their 
taste.  So  farmers,  storekeepers,  factory  workers,  teachers,  clergy- 
men, judges,  governors,  are  formed. 

An  individual  is  not  confined  to  one  aggregate  or  even  to  one 
organ.  So  aggregates  cross  and  over-lap  each  other,  so  organs  are 
interrelated  with  each  other.  In  proportion  to  the  many  sidedness 
of  individuals  and  the  interlacing  of  aggregates  and  organs  is  the 
firmness  of  society  against  outward  shock  or  inward  disruption. 
If,  for  example,  the  wealthy  aggregate  is  bound  together  with  the 
poor  by  ancestry,  friendship,  political  parties  and  church  relations, 
the  whole  society  is  much  stronger  than  if  each  aggregate  were  a 
class  by  itself.  If  the  capitalist  aggregate  and  the  wage  earner 
aggregate  are  bound  together  in  the  organ  of  making  or  transport- 
ing things  by  mutual  respect,  just  dealings  and  in  the  conscious 
purpose  to  serve  the  general  welfare,  they  strengthen  the  bonds  of 
society  and  make  it  richer  not  only  in  material  things  but  in  the 
higher  values  of  manhood.  So  a  church  including  all  classes  in 
its  membership  or  brotherhood,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  capitalist 
and  the  wage  earner,  the  learned  and  the  unlearned,  is  a  strong 
band  of  society,  while  the  one  having  only  the  rich,  or  only  the 
poor,  in  its  membership  is  a  weak  bond,  does  but  little  for  society 
as  a  whole. 

While  there  is  much  ground  for  the  view  that  the  bodily 
forces  are  the  bond  of  society,  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  social 
nature  of  man  lies  in  his  like-mindedness  with  his  fellows.  The 
bodily  appetites  of  hunger  and  love  are  strong  forces  in  the  history 
of  man,  in  the  maintainence  and  distribution  of  the  race,  in  secur- 
ing sustenance  through  industry,  enterprise  or  migration,  in  seeking 


122  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  best  health  conditions,  and  in  continuing  the  existence  of  the 
race  through  the  difference  of  the  sexes.  Whatever  social  theories 
are  being  considered  hunger  and  love  are  steadily  at  w^ork  mould- 
ing social  conditions.  Still  the  mind  is  the  basis  of  personality. 
The  likeness  and  difference  of  mental  characteristics  in  the  social 
persons  are  the  ground  and  cause  of  unity  in  society.  There  is  a 
comity  of  interest  in  their  free  exercise  and  development,  society 
becomes  more  complex  and  fruitful  in  endowments  and  prospects 
as  this  freedom  is  attained,  as  is  seen  in  the  social  condition  of  free 
United  States  compared  w^ith  that  of  restricted  Russia.  Special 
individual  tastes  and  aptitudes  cultivate  themselves  by  pleasure  in 
exercise,  find  the  rewards  of  success  and  so  combine  in  social 
values,  forming  the  organs  of  society  and  fully  and  freely  carrying 
on  their  functions.  The  regulation  of  the  bodily  appetites  is  by 
the  mental  nature,  and  thus  the  two  form  the  structure  of  society. 

Sympathy,  arising  from  resemblances  and  differences  of  the 
mental  nature,  the  like-mindedness  of  man,  is  the  main  force  in 
society.  Drive  a  hundred  discordant  men  and  women  of  different 
races,  languages  and  religion  into  a  small  territory,  as  an  island 
in  summer  seas,  and  at  first  there  would  be  no  society,  they  would 
hold  aloof  from  or  battle  with  each  other.  But  all  the  elements 
of  society  are  there,  coexistence  in  the  same  territory,  upon  which 
they  are  dependent  for  continued  existence,  means  of  communica- 
tion, they  can  speak  their  thoughts  and  feelings  by  common  words 
or  signs.  Like-mindedness  springs  into  exercise,  and  sympathy 
arises.  Companionship  is  pleasurable  in  itself,  besides  it  secures 
safety-  from  common  dangers,  and  increase  of  comfort  by  helpful- 
ness and  co-operation. 

The  sympathy  which  is  the  basis  of  society  is  evidently  of  three 
kinds.  It  is  first  instinctive,  drawn  into  exercise  by  common 
wants  and  experiences.  It  springs  from  the  association  of  beings 
capable  of  it  in  circumstances  calculated  to  draw  it  into  exercise. 
The  exercise  of  sympathy  awakens  kindred  tastes  in  certain  direc- 
tions, and  powers  of  gratifying  them  are  found  in  mutual  encour- 
agement and  helpfulness.     Thus  not  only  aggregates  but  organs 


MODERN  POINT  OF  VIEW  123 

arise,  the  skill  in  hunting,  boating,  riding,  the  making  of  tents  and 
houses,  and  their  adornment. 

The  second  kind  of  sympathy  is  the  traditional.  The  American 
society  is  largely  bound  together  by  the  traditional  sympathy  for 
our  mode  of  government  and  life  arising  from  past  generations. 

The  third  kind  of  sympathy  is  the  rational  and  moral.  The 
progress  of  society  depends  largely  upon  the  sympathy  of  all  classes 
for  each  other,  as  we  discern  that  this  is  the  only  wise  and  good 
outcome  of  man's  like-mindedness.  The  like-mindedness  of  man 
with  man  arises  from  his  like-mindedness  with  God,  it  leads  to  the 
real  brotherhood  by  recognizing  the  true  fatherhood  of  God,  and 
so  brings  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  to  the  race. 

It  is  evident  that  societies  formed  in  different  localities  will  have 
similar  features,  that  the  spontaneous  forces  and  the  outward 
conditions,  together  with  the  volitional  forces  will  form  all  so- 
sieties  in  large  measure  like  each  other.  It  is  also  evident  that 
different  societies  will  have  varied  features,  that  the  like-minded- 
ness of  man  will  take  different  exercises  from  varied  surroundings, 
that  these  peculiar  sympathies  will  be  handed  down  through  suc- 
ceeding generations  and  give  the  basis  for  varied  national  and 
moral  social  ideals  and  growths.  The  Arj^an  race  is  said  to  have 
had  various  migrations  into  different  lands,  each  migration  con- 
quered the  original  inhabitants,  held  them  in  subjection  and  took 
possession  of  their  land  and  made  it  the  new  home  for  many 
generations.  The  varied  societies  thus  formed  men  alike  in  many 
features,  and  unlike  in  many  others — unlike  especially  in  the  spirit 
of  life.  The  Hindu  was  contemplative,  the  Greek  was  active, 
the  Roman  was  domineering,  the  American  today  is  enterprising, 
and  the  spirt  of  the  life  in  the  society  as  in  an  organism,  has  large 
influence  in  its  bodily  formation. 

From  this  modern  sociological  standpoint  we  can  take  an  in- 
telligent view  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible.  It  will  be 
in  large  measure  like  all  other  societies,  but  it  will  have  also  a 
distinct  spirit  of  its  own  which  will  give  many  features  unlike  the 
varied  societies  with  which  it  comes  in  contact. 

Three  of  these  prominent  features  peculiarly  its  own  are  easily 


124  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

discerned  in  its  earliest  stages.  The  first  is  their  conception  of 
God  and  of  their  relation  to  Him.  This  conception  grew  out  of 
the  natural  revelation  not  only,  as  all  other  human  ideas  of  God 
must  grow,  but  especially  out  of  a  supernatural  revelation  He 
made  to  men  adapted  to  receive  it.  The  supernatural  revelations 
recorded  in  Genesis  were  made  to  individuals  largely  for  their 
own  sakes,  and  more  in  number  and  more  striking,  in  character 
were  made  to  Abraham  than  to  any  other  one  person.  Still  only 
eight  were  made  to  him  and  these  at  widely  different  periods  of 
his  long  life,  and  for  the  last  fifty  years  of  that  life  there  is  no 
hint  of  any  special  revelation  made  to  him.  These  varied  revela- 
tions were  accompanied  by  commands  and  promises.  Of  Abra- 
ham it  may  be  said  that  he  believed  every  revelation  of  God, 
obeyed  every  command  given  him,  and  relied  upon  every  promise 
made  to  him,  and  that  he  had  to  sustain  his  faith  for  the  last 
fifty  years  of  his  life  only  the  memories  of  former  revelations,  com- 
mands and  covenants.  He  well  deserves  the  name,  the  father  of 
the  faithful.  Of  him  it  must  also  be  truthfully  said  that  in  many 
of  his  social  relations  there  were  glaring  defects  according  to  all 
modern  ideas.  He  came  out  of  the  primitive  society  then  prevail- 
ing with  many  of  its  manners  and  ideals  as  part  of  himself.  This 
new  revelation  of  God  led  him  to  govern  his  life  and  that  of  his 
family  by  his  faith.  The  supernatural  revelation  of  God  was 
progressive.  Abraham  knew  but  little,  he  was  at  the  beginning, 
we  are  at  the  culmination,  and  even  at  the  beginning  and  with 
the  little  given  him  the  social  result  began  to  be  manifest.  He  had 
a  new  sympathy  for  his  family,  an  instinctive  sympathy  aroused  by 
his  peculiar  knowledge  of  God  and  his  relation  to  Him,  which 
became  a  rational  and  moral  sympathy  as  well  and  made  the 
family  somewhat  difFerent  from  all  other  families  of  that  time. 
The  family  itself  soon  found  a  new  bond  of  sympathy  for  each 
other  under  the  influence  and  by  the  teachings  of  Abraham.  This 
clanish  feeling  grew  with  succeeding  generations,  the  sympathy, 
instinctive  and  rational,  with  Abraham  became  traditional  as  well 
as  the  years  passed  on.  In  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  we 
find  from  this  point  on,  that  the  family  and  national  spirit  had  a 


MODERN  POINT  OF  VIEW  125 

peculiar  strength  and  quality  from  the  knowledge  they  possessed 
of  God  and  from  the  relation  He  bore  to  them.  They  were  from 
the  general  family  life  originally,  and  were  in  close  contact  with 
the  general  family  and  national  life  through  their  long  history. 
Many  features  of  the  general  society  were  found  in  greater  or  less 
degree  and  varying  with  times  and  circumstances  in  the  particular 
society,  but  this  peculiar  bond  made  the  family  and  nation  some- 
what different  in  inner  spirit  and  in  many  outward  forms.  They 
regarded  themselves  the  peculiar  people  of  God,  they  therefore 
bore  peculiar  relations  to  each  other.  The  like-mindedness  of  the 
race  had  an  additional  force,  and  quality  in  the  like-mindedness  of 
the  family  of  Abraham  in  successive  generations  and  continues  to 
this  day  in  the  Jewish  race. 

With  the  peculiar  bond  of  this  like-mindedness  there  alas,  grew 
up  also  a  separation  in  feeling  from  all  the  rest  of  mankind,  a 
disdain  and  contempt  for  others,  foreign  to,  even  the  very  reverse 
of  the  feeling  God  designed  when  He  made  the  special  revelation 
of  Himself  to  Abraham.  He  told  him  plainly  that  He  selected 
him  and  blessed  him,  that  he  might  become  a  blessing  to  all  men. 
This  Abraham  failed  to  impress  upon  his  family  and  his  descend- 
ants, that  the  brotherhood  formed  in  them  was  to  be  formed 
through  them  among  all  men.  The  conception  they  formed  of 
God  and  of  their  relation  to  Him  they  were  to  hold  in  trust  for  all 
mankind ;  instead  they  grasped  these  alone  for  themselves.  Mak- 
ing a  wrong  application  of  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  it  lost  much 
of  its  power,  but  still  through  all  the  particular  society  of  the 
Old  Testament  the  tie  of  brotherhood  among  the  Jews  was  strong, 
and  in  the  New  Testament  it  became  still  stronger  in  those  com- 
ing out  from  the  Jews  into  the  Christian  brotherhood.  It  is  this 
tie  of  brotherhood  growing  out  of  a  peculiar  knowledge  of  and 
relation  to  God  that  characterizes  the  particular  society  of  the 
Bible  in  all  its  stages  and  that  God  by  His  dealings  with  the  peo- 
ple and  by  prophets  and  apostles,  chiefly  by  Jesus  Christ,  His 
Son,  strives  to  purify  and  strengthen  and  broaden  to  take  in  the 
whole  race  of  mankind. 

The  second  prominent  feature  peculiar  to  the  particular  society 


126  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

of  the  Bible  easily  discerned  in  its  earlier  stages  is  the  estimate 
given  to  women,  and  the  sanctity  of  marriage.  The  names  of  the 
mothers  of  the  Jewish  race  are  mentioned  in  the  concise  history 
as  well  as  those  of  the  fathers,  and  they  are  women  worthy  to 
be  named ;  this  fact  alone  distinguishes  this  early  history  from 
that  of  other  races  and  nations.  Vivid  glimpses  are  given  of  the 
general  society  then  existing  in  its  estimate  and  treatment  of 
women  which  afford  a  dark  back  ground  from  the  bright  and  lofty 
place  she  holds  in  the  new  society,  and  also  casts  some  shadows 
upon  it.  Coming  out  of  such  social  standing  she  does  not  at 
one  step  reach  her  proper  place,  not  even  that  given  her  in  modern 
Christian  civilization,  but  she  makes  a  fair  start  in  that  direction. 
We  may  find  much  to  criticise  in  the  fathers  of  the  race,  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  we  are  not  at  a  loss  for  such  material  in 
Sarah  and  Rebekah  and  there  is  some  little  fault  to  be  found  with 
Rachel,  but  the  life-long  affection  of  each  married  pair  gives  to 
woman  and  to  marriage  a  new  meaning  and  sanctity  in  the  early 
stages  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  which  are  cultivated 
and  developed  by  God  in  His  training  of  the  people  through 
prophet  and  apostle,  and  especially  by  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son. 

The  third  prominent  feature  of  the  particular  society  of  the 
Bible  easily  discerned  in  its  earliest  stages  is  the  view  taken  of 
material  wealth,  of  worldly  prosperity.  Abraham  was  promised 
a  rich  and  beautiful  country  for  his  descendants.  In  his  life  of 
wandering  under  God's  direction  he  acquired  great  possessions. 
When  he  feared  these  would  pass  from  his  family  by  the  prevail- 
ing laws  of  inheritance,  God  assured  him  they  would  descend 
to  his  son.  Isaac  in  the  quiet  life  he  led  held  and  increased  his 
inheritance,  and  passed  it  on  to  his  son.  Jacob  starting  out  with 
comparatively  little,  promised  God  to  give  him  a  tenth  of  all  He 
should  bless  him  with.  He  had  his  own  way  of  getting  and  keep- 
ing things,  and  when  he  returned  to  his  home  land  he  had  great 
riches,  the  tenth  promised  was  doubtlessly  given,  we  do  not  know 
how,  and  it  must  have  been  a  fortune  of  itself.  That  the  service 
of  God  was  to  lead  to  worldly  prosperity,  that  the  promises  of 
God  included  material  wealth,  is  seen  at  the  first  glance;    that 


MODERN  POINT  OF  VIEW  127 

this  view  has  never  been  lost  sight  of  in  that  peculiar  race  goes 
without  saying,  and  that  it  is  somewhat  prominent  in  the  ruling 
spirit  of  Christian  civilization  today,  must  readily  be  acknowl- 
edged. But  that  this  view  of  wealth  did  not  justify  Jacob  in  some 
of  his  "tricks  of  the  trade"  is  equally  evident;  and  also  it  is  evi- 
dent that  properly  held  it  is  the  very  reverse  of  the  modern  say- 
ing "business  is  business  and  religion  is  religion" ;  that  instead 
of  making  business  separate  from  and  independent  of  religion  it 
makes  business  a  part  of  religion  and  absolutely  subject  to  it. 
They  regarded  themselves  as  stewards  of  God  with  regard  to 
their  wealth,  in  acknowledgment  of  this  they  gave  a  tenth  of  their 
income  to  the  Lord.  The  first  trace  we  have  of  this  striking  fea- 
ture is  in  the  case  of  Abraham  and  Melchisedec.  It  may  have  been, 
probably  was  adopted  from  some  such  custom  in  general  society, 
but  here  it  is  voluntarily  made  by  Abraham  in  an  important  event 
of  his  life,  and  of  a  large  amount  of  wealth.  So  in  the  case  of 
Jacob.  In  later  days  we  find  the  principle  carried  out  by  the 
nation  in  supporting  the  government,  a  king  being  regarded  in 
later  times  as  the  vicegerent  of  God,  in  supporting  the  worship 
of  God  and  in  the  care  of  the  poor.  It  prevailed  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  particular  society  in  the  Bible  throughout  its  long  his- 
tory, among  all  classes,  the  rich  and  the  middle  classes  as  well.  If 
it  should  prevail  today  the  very  rich  would  find  in  it  an  excellent 
way  to  enlist  their  surplus  wealth  of  income  at  least,  in  the  ser- 
vice of  society.  The  thoughtful  world  has  generally  agreed  that 
while  the  Greeks  excelled  in  the  love  of  beauty  and  the  Romans 
in  love  of  power,  the  Hebrews  excelled  in  the  love  of  righteous- 
ness. This  race  characteristic  is  seen  in  its  beginning  and  is  fos- 
tered by  the  three  prominent  features  we  have  just  considered. 
Abraham  and  his  descendants  were  governed  largely  by  their 
conception  of  God  and  their  relation  to  Him. 

Their  views  of  right  and  wrong,  their  conduct  with  reference 
to  right  and  wrong,  had  to  take  in  the  supposed  judgment  of 
God,  and  its  bearing  upon  His  relation  to  them,  whether  it  would 
alienate  or  please  Him.  Then  too  they  in  their  common  relation 
to  God  were  in  a  peculiar  sense  brothers  to  each  other,  and  the 


128  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

right  and  wrong  of  views  and  conduct  has  to  take  in  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood.  The  relation  of  the  sexes  in  society  and  the  place 
accorded  to  woman-hood  afford  a  standard  for  judging  of  the 
righteousness  of  any  social  attainment,  and  according  to  this 
standard  the  Hebrews  began  well  and  have  continued  well 
through  their  long  history.  A  club  made  up  of  university  men  in 
all  kinds  of  business  in  a  large  city  recently  concluded  after  a  full 
discussion  that  the  Hebrews  not  only  had  business  ability  but 
that  righteousness  was  a  very  large  element  of  this  ability,  their 
word  of  description  and  of  promise  could  be  relied  upon.  The 
popular  opinion  might  not  readily  accept  this  verdict  of  men  in 
the  higher  ranks  of  business,  but  the  great  success  of  the  Hebrew 
race  generally  in  the  various  lines  of  business,  particularly  in 
banking,  must  be  acknowledge  as  favoring  this  claim  to  their 
credit,  their  righteousness  in  dealing.  In  the  case  of  Jacob  and 
Laban  we  not  only  see  wide  knowledge  and  keen  dealing  on 
Jacob's  part,  but  that  he  cherished  through  the  long  experience, 
as  he  claimed  when  he  reviewed  it  as  he  parted  from  Laban,  that 
he  had  given  him  a  square  deal,  that  he  only  took  away  what 
was  righteously  his  own.  That  sense  of  righteousness  may  not 
have  been  so  fine  as  we  would  expect  it  in  this  day,  but  he  shows 
that  it  had  a  prominent  place  in  that  early  and  striking  business 
transaction. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
Heredity. 

Two  great  words  in  sociology  are  Production  and  Reproduction. 
That  the  growth  of  any  society  depends  upon  the  production  of 
food  and  the  shelter  of  the  land  it  inherits,  is  evident.  If  the  land 
is  fully  taxed  to  supply  the  needs  of  its  people,  some  other  land 
must  be  taxed  or  the  society  becomes  fixed.  Lands  that  will  sup- 
port but  small  numbers  of  people  can  never  become  the  seats  of 
high  civilization,  unless  they  make  large  drafts  upon  the  produc- 
tion of  other  lands.  The  effort  to  make  these  drafts  may  conduce 
to  civilization,  as  in  Greece  and  Rome  of  the  ancient  world  and  in 
England  today.  Reproduction,  the  society  growing  in  successive 
generations  depends  upon  its  being  well  fed  and  well  housed; 
and  the  kind  of  generations  w^hether  strong  or  weak,  intelligent 
or  unintelligent,  cultured  or  uncultured  depends  upon  the  native 
stock  in  its  treatment  of  its  home  land,  and  upon  the  kind  of 
new  blood  it  drawls  from  other  countries.  The  two  words  are 
interrelated  in  so  many  ways  that  it  is  difficult  to  consider  them 
separately. 

It  is  so  also  with  the  two  kindred  words  Heredity  and  Environ- 
ment. Each  word  considered  separately  seems  to  be  the  over- 
shadowing word.  Both  must  be  considered  in  their  relation  to  each 
other.  The  Bible  has  large  bearing  on  sociological  questions  and 
has  great  sociological  data  of  its  own  since  these  two  great  truths 
run  through  it  side  by  side.  If  evolution,  as  we  have  seen,  is  based 
largely  upon  heredity  and  ever  results  in  fulness  of  life,  we  may 
be  sure  that  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God,  and  His  personal 
training  of  a  particular  society,  will  not  check  but  rather  increase 
this  result.     Since  God  has  formed  man  a  social  being  and  has 


I30  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

implanted  in  his  nature  and  surroundings  the  forces  and  laws  of 
his  social  development,  we  may  be  sure  that  He  will  not  set  these 
aside,  but  will  rather  bring  them  out  into  greater  clearness  in  His 
dealings  with  the  particular  society  gathered  and  influenced  by  a 
special  revelation  of  Himself,  and  that  He  will  thus  more  clearly 
and  fully  set  them  forth  for  the  advancing  welfare  of  the  race. 
God  having  established  the  law  of  heredity  will  surely  use  it  in 
advancing  the  race,  and  will  make  specially  clear  and  full  use  of 
it  in  developing  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible.  The  more 
fully  we  know  what  the  law  of  heredity  is,  the  more  fully  we  will 
be  able  to  understand  God's  use  of  it  in  Bible  sociology,  and 
what  use  He  designs  intelligent  society  to  make  of  it  in  promoting 
its  advance  in  Christian  civilization. 

Students  of  the  subject  are  far  from  agreement  as  to  the  ele- 
ments of  heredity.  It  is  a  confessedly  difficult  subject  and  requires 
a  wide  range  of  investigation.  Besides  this  law  as  other  laws  of 
life,  both  of  biology  and  of  zoology,  can  never  be  found  working 
alone  cannot  be  examined  solely  by  itself  but  as  it  is  mingled  with 
other  laws.  We  recognize  that  marked  race  distinctions  as  for 
example,  those  of  the  Arab,  the  Jew,  the  Roman,  the  Englishman 
are  largel}^  due  to  heredity,  though  there  are  many  other  strong 
forces,  such  as  the  nature  of  the  home  country,  the  employment 
in  gaining  a  livelihood,  the  customs,  language,  government  and 
other  kindred  elements  that  have  had  great  influence  in  the  mat- 
ter. We  generally  look  backward  on  this  subject,  though  the  stim- 
ulating way  is  to  look  forward  to  the  coming  race.  But  looking 
backward  to  particular  societies  or  races  prominent  in  history  we 
may  trace  their  growing  prominent  characteristics  through  heredity, 
thus  the  Greeks  preserved  and  fostered  their  intellectual  culture 
and  their  love  of  the  beautiful,  the  Romans  their  dominant  will  in 
the  government  of  the  world,  the  Jews  the  spirit  of  righteous- 
ness in  the  social  relations.  We  recognize  that  all  mankind  by 
general  heredity  have  faces,  but  that  the  color  of  the  eyes,  the 
slope  of  the  forehead,  the  color  of  the  hair,  the  form  of  the  nose, 
mouth,  lips  and  chin,  the  shape  of  the  skull  and  the  poise  of  the 


HEREDITY  131 

head  are  very  largely  matters  of  heredity  from  a  particular  and 
quite  near  by  ancestry. 

We  recognize  also  that  we  all  have  dispositions,  but  the  par- 
ticular disposition  each  one  has,  whether  cheerful  or  depressed,  he 
has  either  cultivated  himself,  or  has  inherited  from  his  parents, 
probably  both.  We  all  have  mental  and  moral  tendencies,  but 
the  particular  tendency  to  mental  dulness  or  brightness  or  to 
moral  order  or  waywardness  comes  from  some  nearby  ancestor,  or 
we  have  cultivated  it,  or  both. 

There  has  been  a  discussion  as  to  whether  acquired  characteris- 
tics can  be  transmitted  by  heredity,  and  strange  to  say  those  drift- 
ing toward  materialism  deny  it.  Weismann  says  that  the  basis  of 
heredity  is  a  material  substance  carried  in  the  reproductive  organs 
which  he  calls  germ  plasm.  This  germ  is  handed  down  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  without  any  possible  change.  The  individual 
cannot  change  it,  no  peculiarities  he  can  develop  can  affect  it  in 
any  way.  Hence  environment  plays  no  part  in  heredity,  acquired 
characteristics  cannot  be  transmitted.  Reed  also  claims  that  en- 
vironment does  not  afifect  heredity,  that  parental  ill  health  due  to 
bad  sanitation,  want,  hardship,  intemperance,  or  disease  does  not 
affect  the  children.  He  claims  that  those  exposed  through  many 
generations  to  malaria  do  not  become  dwarfed  by  it,  that  the  weak 
are  swept  away ;  that  the  strong  become  resistant  to  it  and  immune 
to  it;  but  this  was  writen  before  it  was  known  that  malaria  was 
not  evil  air  at  all  but  a  fever  transmitted  from  victim  to  victim  by 
the  festive  mosquito  who  rather  enjoys  nipping  the  strong  if  he  is 
not  too  lively  for  him.  On  the  other  hand  there  are  some  writers 
upon  heredity  who  reduce  it  to  a  farce  by  applying  mathematics 
to  it.  Galton's  famous  Law  of  Heredity  calculates  it  exactly  as 
we  measure  wheat  or  the  sweep  of  a  planet.  The  law  is  that  the 
proportion  of  the  heritage  contributed  by  a  parent  in  the  n*^ 
generation  is  (1-2)  -";  each  parent  contributes  on  an  average  1-4, 
each  grand-parent  1-16,  and  so  on  to  the  n^*'-  generation.  The 
descendant  of  an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  War  would  thus 
have  only  1-256  part  of  his  ancestor's  patriotism,  or  according  to 
the  fantastic  theory  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  in  "Elsie  Venner" 


132  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

that  our  ancestors  take  turns  in  controlling  us,  he  would  have  just 
enough  patriotism  for  a  Fourth  of  July  celebration  with  a  little 
left  over  for  Washington's  Birthday.  "In  us  mingles  the  blood  of 
a  thousand  generations",  but  this  gives  only  general  heredity  as 
that  of  the  Anglo  Saxon  race.  If  we  go  to  divide  it  up  for  partic- 
ular heredity  by  the  use  of  Galton's  law  we  end  in  an  absurdity, 
we  try  to  account  for  each  drop  of  blood.  But  it  is  quite  evident 
that  neither  materialism  nor  mathematics  have  much  to  do  with 
such  a  problem. 

On  the  other  hand  in  favor  of  the  transmission  of  acquired  char- 
acteristics Darwin  says  in  his  "Origin  of  Species"  that  "organic 
beings  must  be  exposed  during  several  generations  to  new  con- 
ditions of  life  to  cause  any  appreciable  amount  of  variation ;  but 
when  the  organization  has  once  begun  to  vary  it  generally  con- 
tinues to  vary  for  many  generations".  Hugo  de  Vries  in  "Evolu- 
tion and  Mutation"  shows  that  the  processes  by  which  new  char- 
acteristics are  produced  in  living  organisms  consist  often  in  leaps 
and  jumps,  popularly  called  sports.  These  mutations  play  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  evolution  of  species  being  matched  by  chance, 
and  then  preserved  by  heredity  through  resulting  generations. 
Luther  Burbank  the  wonderworker  of  science  in  plant  life  dis- 
proves over  and  over  again  that  acquired  characteristics  cannot  be 
transmitted,  by  transmitting  them.  He  says:  "Heredity  is  the 
sum  of  all  the  effects  of  all  the  environments  of  all  past  generations 
on  the  responsive  ever  moving  life  forces,  it  is  a  record  kept  by  the 
life  principle  of  its  struggle  onward  and  upward  from  simpler 
forms  of  life.  Heredity  is  the  sum  of  all  past  environments, 
crossing  goes  beyond  "survival  of  the  fittest"  and  "natural  selec- 
tion" and  is  the  principal  cause  of  all  the  existing  species,  and 
varieties  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  of  earth  and  sea  and  air". 
Burbank  by  substituting  plan  for  accident,  and  artificial  for  nat- 
ural selection  and  on  a  large  scale  copying  the  prodigality  of  na- 
ture rather  than  the  selection  of  a  few  changes  as  made  by  former 
experimenters,  and  by  selecting  the  results  of  mutation  in  evolu- 
tion, is  able  to  perfect  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  new  varieties 
of   plant   life   that  otherwise   might   take   thousands  of   years   to 


HEREDITY  133 

develop  or  by  the  doctrine  of  chances  might  never  have  developed 
at  all ;  but  it  is  by  the  heredity  of  acquired  characteristics.  Gid- 
dings  catches  a  glimpse  of  the  same  law  in  the  higher  ranges  of 
man's  mental  life  when  he  says  that  "the  gains  of  parents  made 
through  the  discipline  of  life  are  transmitted  to  their  children, 
much  more  the  gains  made  by  their  own  efforts  and  the  good  offices 
of  their  fellowmen.  By  popular  education  civilization  may  not 
only  store  the  mind  of  one  generation  with  knowledge  but  so 
expand  the  intelligence  of  generations  unborn".  Whoever  takes  a 
wide  view  must  conclude  that  high  civilization  not  only  inherits 
the  stores  of  knowledge  discovered  in  the  past  and  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  acts,  but  that  it  is  itself  a  quickened  mind  and  an 
advanced  moral  nature  which  it  has  become  by  heredity.  The 
gains  of  the  past  have  quickened  the  power  of  gaining.  The  power 
one  generation  possesses  of  finding  out  and  controlling  the  forces 
and  laws  of  nature  is  an  acquired  characteristic  transmitted  by 
heredity,  it  is  impossible  that  the  most  intellectually  gifted  race 
just  at  the  point  of  emerging  from  barbarism  should  possess  it. 

But  this  general  heredity  is  a  more  easy  problem  than  the  par- 
ticular heredity  of  family  life.  A  single  generation  does  not  ac- 
quire characteristics  sufficiently  to  transmit  them,  and  the  two 
parents  of  any  single  generation  are  not  generally  alike.  In  the 
case  of  intemperance  there  may  well  be  room  for  discussion.  Fre- 
quently both  parents  do  not  become  confirmed  in  intemperance 
before  the  birth  of  the  children;  even  if  they  do  that  is  but  for 
one  generation ;  and  the  tendency  may  require  several  generations 
to  be  transmitted.  But  if  both  parents  are  intemperate  and  these 
come  from  several  generations  of  intemperate  parents  the  tendency 
will  be  verj^  apt  to  be  transmitted.  Environment  too,  as  we  have 
seen,  enters  into  the  problem,  it  usually  is  in  the  line  of  heredity 
and  then  confirms  it.  Which  is  the  stronger  can  never  be  decided, 
we  have  already  seen  how  absurd  it  is  to  apply  mathematics  to  the 
problem.  If  the  children  of  virtuous  and  vicious  parents  are 
interchanged  the  blood  of  each  is  not  transformed  by  the  changed 
conditions,  the  novelists  who  know  something  of  human  nature 
tell  us  that  story  often  enough.     If  one  adopts  a  baby  into  his 


134  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

family  he  would  be  far  from  wise  if  he  did  not  carefully  inquire 
into  the  parentage  of  the  child.  The  far  famed  cases  of  the 
Edwards  and  the  Jukes  illustrate  both  environment  and  heredity, 
with  the  emphasis  upon  the  latter.  The  father  of  Jonathan 
Edwards  was  a  minister  and  his  mother  was  the  daughter  of  a 
minister,  the  home  life  of  succeeding  generations  was  Christian. 
Of  their  descendants  there  are  over  three  hundred  college  gradu- 
ates, fourteen  presidents  of  colleges,  over  a  hundred  college  pro- 
fessors, a  hundred  ministers,  missionaries  and  theological  pro- 
fessors, a  hundred  lawyers,  thirty  judges,  sixty  physicians  and  sixty 
authors  who  have  published  one  hundred  and  thirty  books  and 
edited  many  papers  and  magazines.  There  is  evidently  some  intel- 
lectual and  moral  heredity  here.  On  the  other  hand  the  Jukes 
family  had  descendants  too,  and  of  course  an  unwholesome  home 
life.  Of  their  descendants  over  three  hundred  were  paupers,  four 
hundred  were  physical  wrecks  by  reason  of  vice,  sixty-nine  habitual 
thieves,  one  hundred  and  thirty  were  convicted  criminals,  eight 
were  murderers,  and  of  the  twelve  hundred  descendants  only 
twenty  learned  a  trade,  and  ten  of  these  learned  it  in  a  state 
prison.  There  is  evidently  some  intellectual  and  moral  heredity 
here  too. 

The  sayings,  "To  train  a  child  you  must  begin  a  hundred  years 
before  it  is  bom",  and  "To  reform  a  man  you  must  reform  his 
grand-father,"  have  a  large  measure  of  truth  in  them.  At  first 
sight  they  seem  verj^  discouraging  sayings,  but  if  instead  of  looking 
backward  we  look  forward,  if  we  have  the  far  view  of  an  ancient 
Seer  of  Israel  and  the  confidence  in  the  laws  of  God  taught  by 
Christ  and  His  Apostles,  if  we  look  and  work  together  with  God, 
using  wisely  heredity  for  future  generations  then  they  are  sayings 
full  of  incentive  for  the  coming  Kingdom  of  God.  The  law  of 
heredity  is  the  same  in  the  lower  grade  of  vegetable  life,  in  the 
rising  grades  of  animal  life,  in  the  rising  grades  of  man's  life, 
physical,  mental,  moral  and  spiritual.  It  has  been  the  law  along 
which  great  advances  have  been  made.  We  cannot  conceive  how 
advance  could  be  made  without  inheritance  of  results  and  heredity 
of  powers.    It  is  not  conceivable  that  God's  law  of  heredity  should 


HEREDITY  135 

run  through  all  grades  and  stop  short  of  the  highest  grade  of 
man's  life,  his  social  life  in  fellowship  with  God  and  with  his 
fellow  man,  the  life  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

There  are  some  things  indicated  in  the  story  of  the  fall  of 
Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  that  are  strikingly  in  line 
with  the  principles  of  heredity.  A  striking  feature  in  the  account 
is  that  they  fell  before  they  had  any  children.  This  fall,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  from  moral  innocence  into  moral  perverseness.  It 
was  accompanied  at  once  as  by  its  shadow,  with  a  sense  of  guilt. 
The  first  act  of  perverseness  was  followed,  as  cause  by  effect,  by 
acts  of  kindred  perverseness,  confirming  the  character  as  it  adapted 
itself  to  its  changed  circumstances.  Thus  an  acquired  characteris- 
tic came  into  being,  and  grew  stronger  according  to  the  sensitive- 
ness of  their  fresh  neu-  nature.  How  long  it  was  before  they  had 
children  we  are  not  told,  but  the  children  when  they  came  to 
such  parents  would  be  like  them  not  only  in  natural  gifts,  but  in 
acquired  characteristics,  and  would  be  in  the  same  general  environ- 
ment, and  under  the  training  and  influence  of  parents  having 
such  acquired  characteristics.  Now  as  we  look  backward  from  our 
present  condition  it  is  very  easy  to  see  the  working  of  the  general 
law  of  heredity;  the  passing  on  of  acquired  characteristics  from 
generation  to  generation,  in  the  prevailing  moral  perverseness  of 
the  human  race.  The  generally  recognized  fact  that  a  sense  of 
guilt  follows  the  exercise  of  moral  perverseness  in  new  or  extreme 
ways,  distinguishes  it  from  a  mere  mistake  of  judgment,  the  one 
is  an  error,  the  other  is  a  wrong.  Whence  does  this  moral  per- 
verseness come?  Each  individual  who  carefully  reflects  recog- 
nizes that  it  was  present  in  the  earliest  dawn  of  his  consciousness, 
that  he  was  morally  perverse  when  he  first  consciously  began  to  be. 
Each  individual  who  carefully  observes  learns  that  he  is  not  alone 
in  having  moral  perverseness,  but  that  all  his  fellows  with  whom 
he  comes  in  contact  have  it  in  some  degree  or  other.  Careful 
observation  has  not  been  able  to  find  any  portion  of  the  race  exist- 
ing today  free  from  it.  As  far  back  as  we  may  go  in  history  we 
find  indications  that  moral  perversity  existed  in  the  primitive  man, 
and   in  primitive  society.     The  question   is  simply  a  question  of 

10 


136  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

heredity,  and  it  takes  us  back  to  Adam  and  Eve,  our  first  parents, 
they  have  transmitted  their  acquired  moral  perverseness  to  their 
descendants.  Had  the  result  of  their  probation  been  the  reverse, 
had  their  moral  innocency  been  confirmed  into  moral  virtue  by 
prompt  and  repeated  obedience  to  proper  authority,  the  principle 
of  heredity  would  have  transmitted  that  acquired  characteristic 
to  their  descendants.  There  are  all  degrees  and  directions  of  the 
heredity  of  moral  perverseness  as  of  every  thing  else.  In  all  the 
works  of  God  there  is  infinite  variety,  here,  as  in  all  other  fields 
where  evolution  can  be  traced,  there  are  no  two  individuals  exactly 
alike  in  moral  perverseness;  but  the  variety  is  within  the  limits 
of  kind,  all  individuals  have  it  in  some  degree  or  form.  It  is 
also  so  wedded  with  physical  and  intellectual  traits  and  it  is  so 
influenced  by  changed  circumstances  and  employments,  that  there 
need  be  no  wonder  that  from  the  same  parents  two  such  widely 
different  characters  as  Abel  and  Cain  should  have  descended; 
the  different  modes  of  living,  tending  flocks,  the  roving  life,  and 
tilling  the  soil,  the  stable  life,  the  source  of  so  much  antagonism 
in  the  history  of  the  race,  simply  confirmed  the  hereditary  distinc- 
tion ;  nor  that  Seth  should  have  been  more  like  Abel ;  nor  that 
from  three  such  diverse  parents  as  Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth 
widely  divergent  streams  of  descendants  should  have  flowed  so 
they  can  be  traced  in  history.  Still  this  divergency  is  within  the 
limits  of  moral  perverseness ;  and  it  clearly  indicates  that  by  hered- 
ity this  moral  perverseness  may  be  changed  in  hue  and  intensity 
but  cannot  be  destroyed.  There  is  however  inspired  a  hope  from 
all  the  transcendence  and  immanence  of  God  we  have  traced  in 
theistic  and  Christian  evolution  that  the  need  arising  here,  as  in 
other  stages  of  the  upward  progress  in  all  nature,  God  may 
become  more  immanent;  and  that  then  the  principle  of  heredity 
will  be  used  to  lift  out  of  moral  perverseness  and  confirm  in  moral 
virtue  through  succeeding  generations.  That  the  fall  of  Adam 
from  innocency  to  perverseness  has  resulted  disastrously,  morally, 
is  consistent  with  its  effect  of  intellectual  advance  in  knowledge, 
man  has  not  become  better  by  it,  but  he  certainly  has  become 
wiser;   and  it  contains  in  its  bosom  the  possibility  of  his  becoming 


HEREDITY  137 

better  by  the  inflow  of  the  divine  nature  to  save  him.  There 
are  certain  virtues  in  a  redeemed  man  whose  existence  cannot  be 
imagined  in  an  unfallen  man. 

The  mingled  blessings  and  cursings  by  Noah  of  his  three  sons 
need  not  be  regarded  as  in  any  sense  a  God  given  prediction,  they 
were  evidently  based  upon  the  traits  of  character  revealed  in  the 
preceding  incident,  but  which  existed  prior  to  that  and  had  been 
long  observed  by  the  father,  and  they  simply  expressed  his  judg- 
ment of  the  future  career  of  the  sons  and  their  descendants.  Many 
a  father  today  need  not  be  as  wise  as  Noah  seems  to  have  been  in 
many  ways  in  order  to  make  the  same  kind  of  prediction  concern- 
ing his  sons,  especially  if  they  are  already  married  and  have  families. 
But  all  such  human  judgments  of  the  future  are  based  upon  the 
laws  of  heredity,  if  they  have  any  probability  or  force  in  them  at  all. 
In  the  case  of  Noah  if  we  can  be  at  all  sure  that  Japheth  includes 
the  Aryan  race,  that  Shem  includes  the  Hebrew  race,  and  that 
Ham  includes  the  Negro  race  the  human  foretelling  seems  to  have 
been  unusually  wise,  so  remarkable  in  its  long  and  wide  sweep 
as  to  become  a  God  given  prediction;  and  in  any  such  case  it  is 
a  most  remarkable  instance  of  the  permanence  of  the  forces  of 
heredity,  the  law  He  had  established ;  and  in  such  case  it  was  much 
clearer  and  more  farseeing  than  it  was  possible  for  Noah  unaided 
to  have,  and  so  it  becomes  a  prediction. 

The  supernatural  revelation  of  God  to  man  takes  a  new  form 
and  makes  a  great  advance  in  the  case  of  Abraham.  The  history 
shows  God  calling  Abraham  from  his  home  land  and  from  his 
kindred  in  order  to  make  a  covenant  with  him,  a  covenant  of 
grace  it  may  well  be  called,  an  all  embracing  covenant  surely,  for 
"I  will  be  a  God  to  thee"  includes  all  that  God  can  be  or  do  for 
man,  includes  everything  man  needs,  and  it  is  most  significantly 
added,  "and  to  thy  seed  after  thee".  This  covenant  of  grace 
embracing  everything  man  needs  includes  God's  use  of  His  great 
law  of  heredity,  in  nature  which  runs  through  all  degrees  of  life 
on  the  earth  and  finds  its  highest  sphere  in  the  life  of  man  in 
society.  Two  features  are  quite  striking  in  the  history  of  Abra- 
ham and  Sarah  his  wife  in  their  bearing  on  the  subject  of  heredity. 


138  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Abraham  at  the  beginning  was  promised  that  he  should  be  the 
father  of  a  great  nation,  that  his  seed  should  be  as  the  dust  of 
the  earth,  as  the  stars  of  the  heavens  for  multitude,  that  he  evi- 
dently through  his  seed,  should  be  a  blessing  to  all  the  families  of 
the  earth.  A  very  large  element  of  the  covenant,  "I  v^^ill  be  a  God 
to  thee"  vi^as  that  striking  blessing  to  a  man  of  great  vitality  and 
noble  ambition,  "you  shall  be  a  father,"  and  yet  Abraham  and 
Sarah  passed  through  their  prime,  and  remained  childless.  Sarah, 
whose  remarkable  beauty  and  charm  more  than  once  brought  her 
into  grave  danger,  seems  to  have  been  protected  by  God  from  the 
polluting  touch  of  man,  even  of  the  arbitrary  Kings,  Pharoah  and 
Abimilech  who  sought  her,  each  in  turn  for  his  wife,  one  in  her 
youthful  days,  one  when  age  had  not  yet  robbed  her  of  her  attrac- 
tiveness; and  so  the  life  long  wife  of  Abraham  she  passed  beyond 
the  child  bearing  age,  childless.  The  long  delay  in  fulfilling  God's 
promise  led  them  to  try  to  fulfill  it  themselves  in  a  way  questiona- 
ble even  to  them,  though  allowed  by  the  customs  of  the  age,  and 
Ishmael  was  born  to  Abraham  by  Hagar,  Sarahs  maid-servant; 
but  God  assured  Abraham  that  Ishmael  was  not  the  promised  son. 
The  long  delay  often  led  Abraham  to  entreat  God,  but  these 
entreaties  only  led  to  the  more  emphatic  renewal  of  the  promise 
and  to  further  delay,  until  the  laws  of  nature  seemed  to  render 
a  child  impossible;  and  still  the  promise  was  renewed.  Thus 
fatth  in  God  was  cultured  by  long  and  severe  trial  until  at  length 
the  son  of  God's  promise,  Isaac,  was  born  of  Sarah  to  Abraham. 
Through  the  long  lives  of  Sarah  and  Abraham,  through  God's 
protecting,  leading,  blessing,  trying  them  in  the  line  of  a  promised 
child,  they  had  acquired  a  characteristic,  faith,  which  in  their 
advanced  age  they  transmitted  by  the  God  established  law  of  hered- 
ity to  their  son,  Isaac.  Had  Isaac  been  born  earlier,  he  could  not 
have  had  that  bent  of  faith  so  remarkable  in  his  life,  by  heredity 
from  his  parents,  for  they  would  not  have  had  it  to  give  to  him. 

The  second  remarkable  feature  in  the  history  of  Abraham  and 
Sarah  in  its  bearing  upon  the  subject  of  heredity,  is  circumcision. 
It  is  probable  circumcision  was  observed  by  the  Egyptians  and 
other  oriental  peoples  in  very  early  times,  and  probably  for  hy- 


HEREDITY  139 

gienic  reasons,  though  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  necessary 
for  health  in  any  clime,  nor  ever  observed  generally  by  any  par- 
ticular race.  This  circumcision  God  selected  and  appointed  as  the 
sign  of  His  covenant  with  Abraham.  He  made  it  a  necessary 
condition  of  the  family  and  national  life  of  the  particular  society, 
He  gathered  about  the  special  revelation  He  made  of  Himself. 
The  significance  of  it  was  with  reference  to  the  promised  seed. 
Abraham  himself,  though  advanced  in  life,  had  to  be  circumcised 
a  year  or  more  before  the  birth  of  Isaac,  the  son  of  the  promise. 
The  rite,  the  sign  of  the  covenant,  emphasized  that  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  promised  life  which  was  to  be  a  blessing  to  all  the  race, 
must  be  pure.  It  fostered  cleanness  and  purity,  and  especially 
helped  to  secure  the  control  of  the  sexual  passions,  these  hygienic 
ends  were  secured;  in  addition  it  secured  a  line  of  descent  in  the 
covenant  relation  and  symbolized  both  God's  great  gift  of  life  in 
succeeding  generations,  and  specially  the  consecration  of  the  par- 
ticular society  to  God  in  the  highest  function  of  man  and  woman, 
the  propagation  of  their  kind.  This  external  token  of  the  covenant 
made  by  God  with  Abraham  and  his  seed  may  well  be  called  the 
Patent  of  Nobility  of  the  Jewish  Nation,  and  its  real  significance 
is  in  the  line  of  heredity.  That  the  rite  has  been  abrogated  by  the 
perfection  of  the  promised  life  in  Christ,  and  that  Baptism  has 
taken  its  place  in  the  Christian  church,  does  not  set  aside  the  value 
of  heredity  in  the  covenant  of  grace.  Here  as  always  God  ad- 
vances not  by  throwing  away  the  past,  but  by  building  upon  it; 
the  promise  is  still  to  His  believing  people  and  to  their  children 
even  to  the  thousandth  generation. 

It  seems  at  first  blush  a  little  out  of  the  line  of  heredity  that 
two  such  diverse  characters  as  Jacob  and  Esau  should  have  been 
twins;  but  upon  further  reflection  we  see  that  it  is  a  fine  instance 
of  the  "crossing  of  traits" — frequently  a  prominent  feature  of 
heredity.  That  Isaac  was  inactive  and  contemplative  is  quite 
evident,  his  getting  a  wife  was  put  ofif  a  great  while  and  was  then 
a  very  calm  affair  on  his  part.  Rebekah  on  the  other  hand  was 
active  and  adventurous,  she  readily  took  a  great  risk  in  going  to  a 
lover  she  had  never  seen.    They  too  as  with  Abraham  before  them, 


I40  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

were  cultured  in  their  faith  by  the  long  delay  in  the  coming  of  the 
promised  child.  Then  came  the  twins.  As  is  frequently  the  case 
special  love  is  given  to  the  opposite  qualities  of  character  by  parents 
for  their  children,  and  often  this  is  a  reflection  of  their  love  for 
each  other.  It  was  so  in  this  case,  the  slow  and  meditative  Isaac 
admires  and  loves  Esau  the  hunter,  whose  activity  and  daring  are 
a  reflection  of  his  wife,  and  Rebekah  loves  Jacob  the  reflection  of 
Isaac.  It  is  a  case  of  the  crossing  of  traits;  though  we  soon  find 
that  Jacob  has  a  good  deal  of  the  Rebekah  mingled  with  the  Isaac 
in  his  nature 

Jacob  became  the  father  of  the  twelve  patriarchs  the  heads  of 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  how  dis- 
tinctively their  lives  are  pictured  in  the  concise  narrative,  and 
their  traits  of  character,  how  clearly  they  rise  in  view  as  the  men 
face  the  varied  circumstances  of  their  lives.  Sarah,  Rebekah,  Leah 
and  Rachel  the  mothers  of  a  race  are  women  of  beauty  and  charm 
and  strength,  who  have  left  their  impress  upon  their  children  to 
the  thousandth  generation.  What  view  shall  we  take  of  that  far 
gone  day,  and  its  Bible  record  ?  Some  students  say  that  in  the  late 
day  of  the  nation's  life  the  people  became  so  conscious  of  their 
peculiar  traits  of  national  character  that  their  literary  genius  pro- 
jected them  back  as  belonging  to  a  mythical  ancestry.  A  whole 
chapter  has  been  given  to  this  general  theory,  and  it  need  not  now 
be  discussed.  But  what  a  commentary  it  is  upon  the  subject  of 
heredity.  The  traits  of  character  not  only  in  the  late  years  of  the 
national  life  but  prevailing  today  among  a  race  scattered  the  world 
over,  are  so  marked  and  distinct  from  the  race  traits  of  other 
nations  that  these  men  and  women  of  that  far  gone  age  are 
recognized  as  their  ancestors,  as  being  the  source  of  the  faith  in 
one  God  in  convenant  with  them;  of  the  clear  line  of  descent 
through  pure  marriage;  of  the  business  ability  combining  right- 
eousness and  shrewdness;  and  of  the  material  wealth  and  the  long 
life  as  the  favor  of  God  to  His  acknowledged  stewards. 

Since  God  has  established  the  law  of  heredity  in  nature  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  he  should  express  it  clearly  in  the  moral 
law.     It  is  strikingly  stated  in  the  second  of  the  Ten  Command- 


HEREDITY  141 

ments  and  must  be  inferred  in  several  others,  notably  in  the  third 
and  fifth.  In  the  second  commandment  man  is  forbidden  to  prac- 
tice idolatry  in  any  form.  In  regard  to  the  position  of  God  it  can 
make  little  difference  to  Him  what  we  think  of  Him. 

"God  doth  not  need  either  man's  work  or  his  own  gifts. 
"His  State  is  Kingly,  thousands  at  his  bidding  speed, 
"And  post  o'er  land  and  ocean  without  rest". 

But  in  regard  to  the  heart  of  God  it  makes  vast  difference 
what  we  think  of  Him.  The  good  father  or  husband  is  not  jeal- 
ous of  his  own  position  or  honor,  but  mainly  of  the  welfare  of  his 
loved  ones,  his  jealousy  seeks  to  guard  his  children  and  wife  from 
the  degredation  and  ruin  of  a  fascinating  corrupter.  So  God 
jealously  guards  his  people  from  the  degradation  of  idolatry,  which 
has  always  been  so  fascinating  to  mankind ;  and  in  order  to  do  this 
most  effectively  He  appeals  to  them  through  the  law  of  heredity. 
It  is  the  strongest  possible  appeal  that  can  be  made  to  man  and 
woman  "for  the  sake  of  your  children".  Do  not  corrupt  your- 
selves for  your  corruption  will  descend  to  your  children.  Cherish 
lofty  and  pure  views  of  God  and  serve  Him,  for  this  uplift  of  char- 
acter will  descend  to  your  children.  The  whole  heathen  world 
and  the  whole  Christian  world  today  afford  a  striking  commentary 
upon  this  clause  of  the  second  commandment.  Here  also  as  in 
nature  everywhere  it  is  difficult  to  separate  heredity  from  environ- 
ment, from  the  influence  of  parents  over  children  in  the  most  sensi- 
tive period  of  their  lives,  and  from  the  inheritance  of  conditions; 
but  here,  as  elsewhere,  it  is  quite  evident  that  heredity  is  a  potent 
factor. 

But  in  this  commandment  a  feature  of  the  law  of  heredity  is 
brought  to  our  attention  which  sociologists  have  not  sufficiently 
noted.  God  says  He  will  visit  iniquity  to  the  third  and  fourth 
and  show  mercy  to  the  thousandth,  the  word  generation  must  be 
supplied  in  each  case,  both  are  indefinite  numbers,  but  the  thou- 
sandth is  the  much  larger  number.  The  law  of  heredity  has  a  very 
decided  leaning  to  the  side  of  mercy.     Here  particularly  as  in  evo- 


142  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

lution  generally  the  uplift  of  the  race  of  mankind  is  designed, 
and  provision  is  made  to  secure  it  in  the  law  itself.  One  is  at 
first  inclined  to  say:  "I  see  that  heredity  works  with  absolute 
impartiality,  but  I  find  no  trace  of  its  leaning  to  the  side  of  mercy, 
to  the  advance  of  the  individual  or  of  the  race".  Let  us  look  a 
little  deeper,  first  at  the  individual.  A  man  chooses  a  vicious  life, 
revels  in  godlessness,  ignorance  and  vice,  his  wife  may  be  of  the 
reverse  character,  but  we  suppose  she  is  like  her  husband.  Their 
child  inherits  an  impaired  constitution,  and  a  tendency  to  vice. 
Now  if  we  look  more  deeply  we  see  two  elements  of  nature  re- 
spond at  once :  first  the  recuperative  forces  within  the  child,  second, 
the  restorative  forces  without,  the  remedies  in  nature  and  the 
skill  to  apply  them  in  man.  Their  child  inherits  a  dulled  mind 
and  dense  ignorance  and  godlessness.  Two  elements  in  nature 
at  once  respond,  first,  the  innate  unrest  of  the  soul  for  Grod  which 
may  be  touched  into  powerful  action,  second,  the  appeal  and  the 
uplift  of  the  surrounding  Christianity. 

Let  us  look  now  at  the  race.  It  may  be  said  that  the  limit  of 
the  degradation  of  mankind  seems  to  be  fixed,  but  the  limit  of 
progress  cannot  even  be  imagined.  How  far  the  race  will  advance 
in  the  knowledge  and  the  control  of  nature,  how  far  it  will  ad- 
vance in  social  fellowship  and  in  fellowship  with  God,  all  that  is 
involved  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  and  in  the  future  life 
the  limit  of  all  this  cannot  be  imagined ;  but  it  is  evident  that  all 
this  is  included  in  the  "thousandth  generation"  of  this  law  of 
heredity.  The  two  elements  we  have  seen  in  the  individual  are  of 
course  in  the  race.  First,  there  is  something  in  mankind  which 
can  never  be  satisfied  wnth  sensual  corruption,  or  with  idolatry, 
something  that  may  be  touched  into  strong  and  glorious  life. 
Second.  There  is  something  to  touch  this  into  life.  The  super- 
natural revelation  of  God  culminating  in  Jesus  Christ,  gathering 
about  Himself  the  Kingdom  Society,  this  is  preserved  and  ad- 
vanced by  heredity.  Our  fathers  were  idolators  under  the  gloomy 
German  forests  and  on  the  storm  swept  shores  of  England,  they 
were  rude  savages.  Their  savage  spirits  were  touched  into  new 
life  by  the  gospel  of  Christ  brought  to  them  by  Patrick,  Augustin, 


HEREDITY  143 

Willebrord,  Boniface  and  other  heralds  of  the  cross.  Through 
many  generations  this  new  uplift  of  life  has  been  preserved  and 
fostered,  and  so  has  come  down  to  us  in  the  elevation  and  happi- 
ness of  our  Christian  land.  And  the  end  is  not  yet.  The  theistic 
and  Christian  evolution  looks  far  ahead,  the  coming  society  is  the 
Kingdom  of  God;  the  heredity  of  the  convenant  of  grace,  of  the 
mercy  of  God  is  to  the  "thousandth  generation". 

That  this  view  of  the  covenant  of  grace  embracing  heredity  was 
present  in  the  conception  of  Moses  is  seen  in  his  second  oration 
which  he  made  on  delivering  the  book  of  the  covenant  to  the 
elders.  He  says  to  them,  and  to  all  the  people,  "Know  therefore 
that  Jehovah  thy  God,  he  is  God,  the  faithful  God  who  keepeth 
covenant  and  loving  kindness  with  them  that  love  him  and  keep  his 
commandments  to  a  thousand  generations".  That  no  man  need  be 
a  slave  to  his  dead  grand-father,  that  heredity  is  only  a  tendency 
to  vice  or  virtue,  though  often  it  is  a  strong  one,  but  is  never  a 
necessity,  that  it  is  only  a  living  force  but  not  a  cast  iron  mould, 
a  force  that  may  be  changed  in  its  direction,  all  this  is  clearly  indi- 
cated in  this  commandment,  and  is  finely  illustrated  in  the  instance 
of  Abraham.  The  commandment  appeals  to  a  man  however  bad 
his  own  heredity  may  be  to  change  it  for  his  own  sake  and  for  the 
sake  of  his  children.  If  he  is  an  idolator  from  idolatrous  parents, 
he  is  commanded  to  stop  idolatry  at  once  for  his  own  sake  and  for 
the  sake  of  his  children.  The  command  is  addressed  to  the  will, 
and  however  enfeebled  or  depraved  a  will,  one  may  have  by 
heredity,  it  is  still  capable  of  hearing  the  command  and  of  trying 
to  obey;  of  hearing  the  voice  of  God  calling  to  high  duty  and  of 
relying  upon  the  grace  of  God  to  stir  to  lofty  endeavor.  So  in 
the  case  of  Abraham  he  was  called  as  the  history  narrates  from  a 
bad  heredity  to  form  a  good  one.  We  have  a  glimpse  of  Terah 
his  father,  and  we  see  Abraham,  the  son,  they  are  alike  but  there  is 
a  striking  difference.  Terah  had  the  emigrant  spirit,  he  left  Ur 
to  go  to  Canaan,  but  he  got  only  half  way,  he  came  to  Haran  and 
"dwelt  there" ;  his  will  did  not  hold  out.  Abraham  and  his  fol- 
lowers had  the  emigrant  spirit,  they  started  for  Canaan  and  the 
concise  story  shows  the  stuf?  that  was  in  the  man,  "and  into  the 


144  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

land  of  Canaan  they  came";  they  reached  the  place  they  started 
out  for,  they  got  there.  This  breaking  away  from  an  old  heredity 
thus  became  the  beginning  of  a  new  one. 

The  Bible  has  this  spirit  throughout,  it  shows  the  power  of 
heredity,  calls  upon  one  to  break  away  from  bad  heredity,  and 
then  calls  upon  him  to  form  a  new  heredity.  It  looks  forward, 
seeking  the  uplift  by  the  very  power  which  without  it  may  drag 
down,  and  in  this  it  is  in  full  harmony  with  our  consciousness,  the 
call  of  the  natural  as  well  as  of  the  supernatural  is  to  resist  bad 
heredity  and  form  good  heredity.  Heredity  has  its  tendency  in  the 
will  itself  without  doubt,  but  the  clearer  our  grasp  of  its  meaning, 
the  stronger  becomes  its  appeal  to  the  will  to  choose  the  good,  to 
break  away  from  the  bad  heredity. 

In  the  former  part  of  this  chapter  a  modern  instance  of  heredity 
was  noted  in  the  families  of  the  Edwards  and  the  Jutes.  A  still 
more  striking  instance  is  afforded  in  the  Bible  history  in  the  case  of 
the  Kings  of  the  line  of  David,  and  the  Kings  of  the  Northern 
Kingdom.  The  Kings  of  Israel,  that  is  of  the  Northern  Kingdom, 
belonged  during  the  two  hundred  and  eighty  years  of  its  existence 
to  several  dynasties.  The  dynasties  were  started  frequently  by 
usurpation  and  assassination.  Some  strong  but  unscrupulous  man 
grasped  the  power,  generally  the  unscrupulousness  can  be  traced  in 
his  descendants  who  ascended  the  throne,  though  it  assumed  several 
varieties  of  form  and  sometimes  of  strength  as  well.  Always  the 
idolatry  forbidden  in  the  second  commandment  can  be  traced.  This 
came  as  did  the  other  features  to  some  extent  from  the  prevailing 
condition  of  the  nation,  but  also  and  more  largely  by  heredity. 
Some  of  these  kings  were  very  great  men,  but  whether  great  or 
little  they  were  bad  men  and  idolaters,  and  a  glance  at  the  history 
easily  discerns  that  in  the  various  lines  the  son  bore  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  the  father. 

Turning  now  to  the  Kings  of  Judah  a  single  line  of  descent  is 
clearly  described  from  David  to  Zedekiah  for  over  four  centuries, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  splendid  genealogies  in  all  history. 
David  himself  came  from  a  choice  parentage,  a  family  chosen  by 
God  from  the  many  good  families  of  the  nation,  as  the  source  of 


HEREDITY  145 

this  line  of  kings.  David  was  one  of  the  very  few^  men  in  the 
world's  history  who  deserved  the  title  of  "the  Great,"  you  can 
count  them  on  your  fingers,  Alexander,  Caesar,  Napoleon,  David 
the  Great.  He  consolidated  and  established  the  Kingdom  and 
enlarged  it,  he  organized  the  civil  service  and  the  army  thoroughly, 
he  was  on  the  eve  of  becoming  a  great  world  conqueror  when  God 
interposed.  He  was  a  man  after  God's  own  heart  as  King,  since 
he  always  acknowledged  in  letter  and  spirit  that  he  ruled  only  as 
God's  viceroy.  As  Moses  was  God's  Lawgiver,  so  David  was 
God's  King. 

This  strong  king  was  the  father  of  twenty  generations  of  kings, 
the  kingdom  he  established  was  stable,  the  heirs  he  gave  to  the 
throne  were  in  the  main  strong  characters,  had  many  of  his  ele- 
ments of  strength.  The  concise  narrative  not  only  describes  them 
in  such  a  way  that  we  may  trace  their  tendencies  of  character  but 
gives  its  own  verdict  on  their  reigns,  some  did  evil  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord,  others  did  right  in  His  sight  as  did  David  their  father. 

When  we  come  to  arrange  these  two  classes  by  themselves  and 
examine  them  more  thoroughly  several  strange  features  are  seen. 
The  first  is  a  commentary  on  the  fifth  commandment  as  well  as 
on  the  second.  The  honoring  of  father  and  mother  in  submis- 
sion to  proper  authority  as  well  as  in  cultivating  tendencies  of 
character  received  from  them,  thus  prolonging  a  godly  seed,  is 
promised  the  reward  of  long  life  upon  whatever  land  God  gives 
them.  This  remains  as  true  in  the  United  States  today  as  it  was 
in  Judea  in  the  olden  time.  Of  the  twenty  kings,  twelve  are 
described  as  evil,  but  when  we  count  the  years  of  their  reign 
they  reigned  onFy  a  little  over  one  hundred  years;  while  the 
eight  kings  described  as  good,  reigned  over  three  hundred  years; 
the  average  reign  of  an  evil  king  was  less  than  ten  years,  the 
average  reign  of  a  good  king  was  nearly  forty  years.  The  reign 
of  Manesseh  seems  an  exception  to  the  rule,  he  is  pronounced  as 
evil  and  the  description  bears  out  the  verdict,  and  he  is  said  to 
have  reigned  fifty-five  years.  But  however  this  may  be  accounted 
for  in  other  ways,  a  large  part  of  the  reign  must  be  taken  away 
from  the  years  of  evil  bv  the  reformation  of  Manesseh  described 


146  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

in  Chronicles,  the  reformation  of  a  strong  man  followed  by  a  life 
of  eager  striving  to  undo  the  evil  of  his  past.  A  significant  fea- 
ture of  this  line  of  kings  in  its  relation  to  heredity,  and  peculiar 
to  the  Bible  in  this  respect,  as  w^ell  as  showing  the  prominence 
given  to  woman  in  the  Jewish  life,  is  that  quite  generally  the 
mother's  name  of  the  new  King  is  given  as  well  as  the  father's, 
and  often  we  can  account  for  the  character  of  the  son  somewhat 
by  the  character  of  the  mother.  The  mother  of  one  of  the  evil 
kings  is  specially  stated  as  a  heathen,  another  is  from  an  evil  line 
of  kings  in  the  Northern  Kingdom,  the  names  of  other  mothers 
of  evil  kings  indicate  heathen  origin,  and  the  only  exceptions  to 
the  mention  of  the  names  of  the  mothers  is  in  the  cases  of  two 
evil  kings;  the  silence  seems  one  of  reproach.  In  one  case  a 
good  king  deposed  his  mother  from  her  queenly  position  on 
account  of  her  falling  into  idolatrj^  Of  the  good  kings  some 
are  very  strong  men  having  what  may  be  called  the  Davidic  char- 
acter, both  for  strength  and  goodness,  as  kings  ruling  as  God's 
viceroys  for  the  good  of  the  people.  It  is  quite  evident  that  the 
stability  of  the  Southern  Kingdom  and  its  longer  life  were  due 
very  largely  to  the  heredity  of  the  David  line  of  kings.  It  was 
a  disastrous  day  when  one  of  the  good  kings  by  an  error  of  policy 
made  a  marriage  for  his  son  with  the  strong  though  evil  dynasty 
of  the  Northern  Kingdom ;  it  introduced  usurpation  and  assas- 
sination into  the  southern  kingdom,  and  made  the  only  break  in 
the  line  of  the  Kings  of  David ;  it  was  hardly  a  break  even  for 
while  Athaliah  had  the  power  for  six  years  and  reigned  as  queen, 
Josiah  was  the  rightful  king.  The  warning  of  this  and  other 
misalliances  must  have  been  recognized  by  the  people  of  that 
time,  as  it  is  by  us,  of  the  danger  of  introducing  a  single  impure 
parent  in  the  line  of  good  heredity. 

While  one  of  the  genealogies  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  traces 
his  descent  from  Adam  thus  making  him  the  child  of  the  race, 
another  traces  that  descent  from  Abraham  thus  making  him  a 
child  of  the  particular  people  in  covenant  with  God.  Each  family 
of  the  covenant  people  must  have  cherished  its  own  purity  and 
strength  by  the  prospect  of  becoming  the  source  of  the  Messiah. 


HEREDITY  147 

This  would  be  the  case  not  only  of  the  mothers  but  of  the  fathers 
as  well,  stimulated  by  the  possibility  of  being  the  ancestors  of  the 
Great  King.  The  prophet  Isaiah  describes  the  hope  of  every  Jew- 
ish woman  that  she  might  be  the  chosen  mother  of  the  warrior 
who  would  shed  no  blood,  neither  strive  nor  cry  in  the  streets  but 
would  reveal  by  his  great  counsels  the  universal  fatherhood  of  God 
and  who  would  by  his  gentle  and  persistent  might  establish  an 
everlasting  kingdom  of  light  and  righteousness  over  all  the  earth. 
We  need  not  venture  on  the  domain  of  theology  in  accounting 
for  the  human  nature  of  our  Lord,  nor  in  any  way  try  to  explain 
the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
as  held  by  a  large  portion  of  the  Christian  church,  but  every  men- 
tion made  in  the  gospels  of  the  mother  of  Jesus  Christ  describes 
her  as  the  culminating  flower  of  a  splendid  heredity,  the  choice 
daughter  of  the  covenant  people. 

If  we  now  try  to  account  for  one  of  most  remarkable  conditions 
of  the  present  day  we  find  the  principle  of  Bible  heredity'  strikingly 
illustrated  and  the  promise  "to  a  thousand  generations"  still  run- 
ning along  its  unbroken  course.  Since  the  close  of  New  Testa- 
ment times,  and  the  capture  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by 
Titus,  the  Jewish  people  have  had  no  national  organization  and  no 
national  home  land,  they  have  been  wanderers  over  the  face  of  the 
earth,  scattered  among  all  nations,  and  they  are  so  still  today;  but 
they  have  not  been  and  are  not  being  today  absorbed  by  any  nation, 
they  are  as  separate  and  distinct  a  race  today  as  when  they  were 
driven  out  of  their  home  land  twenty  centuries  ago,  and  they  are 
still  a  strong  race,  showing  no  sign  of  being  worn  out  by  the  hard- 
ships and  persecutions  they  have  endured,  or  of  being  weakened 
by  the  prominence  and  prosperity  many  of  them  have  attained. 
Our  own  country  is  the  gathering  place  of  many  races,  and  all 
who  come  are  speedily  assimilated,  they  become  in  a  few  genera- 
tions Americans,  and  one  cannot  tell  by  dress  or  customs,  by  lan- 
guage, or  mode  of  thought,  by  feature  of  face  or  of  character  from 
what  race  they  originally  came ;  but  there  is  no  power  in  the 
American  nationality^  to  assimilate  the  Jews.  They  come  to  us 
Russian  Jews,  Polish  Jews,  German  Jews,  speaking  various  Ian- 


148  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

guages  and  having  various  habits,  the  Russian,  German  and  Polish 
are  speedily  worn  off  but  the  Jewish  is  not  touched,  the  only 
change  is  that  now  they  are  American  Jews.  The  features  of  the 
face  and  of  the  character  alike  persist.  They  have  ambition  to 
be  leaders  in  all  intellectual  ranks,  in  politics,  in  financial  affairs, 
in  social  life,  they  are  loyal  and  good  citizens,  but  they  have  no 
ambition  to  be  other  than  Jews.  They  are  believers  in  the  one 
God  who  made  a  special  revelation  of  Himself  to  their  fathers, 
and  entered  into  a  covenant  with  them,  and  they  regard  them- 
selves as  His  peculiar  people.  They  do  not  marry  with  other  races, 
but  continue  their  vigorous  existence  in  growing  numbers  and 
power  by  intermarriage  as  they  were  commanded.  God  in  his 
providence  is  preserving  them  doubtless  for  some  wise  purpose  of 
which  there  are  many  intimations  in  the  Bible.  How  is  He  pre- 
serving them?  How  do  these  principles  manifest  themselves? 
There  can  be  but  one  answer.  It  is  by  heredity.  God  is  teaching 
us  the  power  and  value  of  heredity  in  his  treatment  of  the  whole 
race  in  general,  and  in  his  special  care  over  and  preservation  of  the 
Jewish  race  in  particular. 

That  feature  of  face  and  to  some  extent  feature  of  character 
may  be  a  matter  of  heredity  can  no  longer  be  doubted  in  the  light 
of  science,  but  our  faith  is  slow  to  acknowledge  that  there  can  be 
any  heredity  in  the  spiritual  nature.  In  this  we  show  that  we  have 
not  studied  our  Bible  well,  that  we  have  regarded  it  a  book  solely 
of  theology  when  it  has  much  sociology  also;  that  we  have  re- 
garded the  new  birth  of  man  as  God's  sovereign  act  entirely  apart 
and  distinct  from  His  acts  in  nature,  when  our  own  Bible  shows 
us  that  God's  supernatural  acts  are  based  upon  and  take  up  in  their 
scope  His  action  in  nature.  In  seeking  to  honor  God  in  emphasiz- 
ing His  sovereign  grace  in  the  regeneration  of  the  individual  we 
have  dishonored  Him  in  limiting  His  covenant  grace  to  succeeding 
generations,  virtually  holding  that  the  children  of  Christian  parents 
do  not  have  by  heredity  any  trace  of  a  Christian  nature.  David's 
exclamation  "In  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me"  shows  his  con- 
sciousness of  having  a  sinful  nature,  was  the  truth  uppermost  in 
his  mind  in  the  time  of  deep  penitence,  but  it  was  not  the  whole 


HEREDITY  149 

truth  even  in  his  case;  he  had  a  godly  parentage,  and  he  had  from 
them  a  godly  nature.  He  had  penitence  as  well  as  sin.  Heredity 
is  a  tendency  and  there  can  often  be  traced  conflicting  tendencies, 
but  because  one  tendency  appears  to  be  the  prominent  one  in  a 
man's  experience  at  a  particular  time,  is  no  reason  to  hold  that 
it  is  the  only  tendency  in  his  nature,  surely  no  reason  to  hold  that 
it  is  the  only  tendency  in  man's  nature  the  whole  time.  Paul  calls 
Timothy  "my  true  child  in  the  faith",  and  that  was  true,  but  it 
was  not  the  whole  truth,  as  Paul  himself  acknowledges,  "being 
reminded  of  the  unfeigned  faith  that  is  in  thee,  which  dwelt  first 
in  thy  grand-mother  Lois,  and  thy  mother  Eunice" ;  and  both 
truths  only  emphasize  the  need  that  Timothy  should  "guard  that 
which  was  committed  to  him",  and  gave  confidence  to  the  prayer 
that  "the  Lord  would  be  with  his  spirit". 

It  is  not  likely  that  any  Christian  parents  have  entirely  cast  out 
the  whole  of  their  sinfulness,  what  is  left  will  be  inherited  by  their 
children.  But  to  the  extent  in  which  they  are  true  Christians  they 
have  a  nature  that  cannot  be  called  in  itself  sinful,  and  this  by 
heredity  will  become  a  tendency  in  their  children.  To  hold  the 
reverse  is  to  go  against  both  nature  and  the  Bible,  is  to  hold  that 
God  arbitrarily  stops  the  law  of  heredity  from  doing  any  good  in 
the  spiritual  sphere,  that  he  endows  it  only  with  tremendous 
power  for  evil  in  that  sphere ;  when  he  who  observes  sees  the  very 
reverse  in  nature,  and  he  who  believes  the  Bible  sees  that  God's 
mercy  extends  to  "the  thousandth  generation",  and  that  He  has 
absolutely  set  no  limit  to  the  covenant  "to  be  a  God  to  thee  and 
to  thy  seed  after  thee".  Our  God  is  our  Father  in  Heaven,  His 
goodness  extends  to  all  the  race,  and  in  recovering  mankind  from 
sin  He  makes  use  of  the  great  law  of  heredity.  The  covenant  itself 
includes  heredity  as  one  of  its  great  forces.  The  Bible  shows  it. 
Christian  civilization  proves  it.  The  coming  Kingdom  of  God 
will  be  its  full  manifestation. 

Christians  may  well  desire  to  be  parents,  may  regard  their 
children  as  the  most  precious  gifts  of  God  to  them,  may  be 
assured  that  God's  great  laws  in  nature  are  in  their  favor  and  in 
favor  of  their  children,  and  that  through  them  and  their  children 


I50  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

he  is  causing  to  be  established  in  the  earth  and  to  spread  among  all 
the  race  of  mankind  the  "kingdom  which  is  righteousness,  peace 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost"  the  only  kingdom  which  is  in  its  na- 
ture eternal,  the  kingdom  of  a  thouasnd  generations.  This  should 
lead  young  Christians  of  the  opposite  sex  to  be  careful  in  falling  in 
love,  and  in  entering  upon  marriage;  they  should  have  God's  law 
of  heredity  in  view,  and  his  covenant  promise,  and  they  should 
wisely  seek  a  godly  seed. 

Heredity,  as  we  saw  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  includes 
not  only  the  sinful  bent  given  to  man  by  Adam's  fall,  but  the 
original  tendency  given  to  man  in  his  creation  in  the  likeness  of 
God.  Man  wherever  found  is  a  religious  being.  Paul  says  of  him 
he  is  by  the  constitution  of  his  nature  "a  seeker  of  God".  "He  can 
never  be  at  rest  until  he  finds  his  rest  in  God",  is  the  true  de- 
scription of  him  given  by  Augustine  centuries  ago ;  and  this  de- 
scription is  only  made  more  clear  by  the  most  recent  and  thorough 
researches  in  psychology.  What  may  be  called  the  psychology  of 
the  religious  nature  of  man  is  full  of  great  interest  in  illuminating 
the  Bible  teaching  of  heredity.  The  child  in  early  years  has  a 
tendency  to  believe  in  God  as  manifest  in  nature,  and  never  ques- 
tions the  most  wonderful  powers  as  belonging  to  Him.  So  in  the 
childhood  of  the  individual  and  also  of  every  particular  race  and 
nation,  the  wonder  stories  of  nature  find  a  ready  credence.  In  a 
few  years  the  child  sees  something  of  the  meaning  in  nature,  the 
care  of  God  for  His  creatures.  As  the  years  go  on  the  child  dis- 
cerns that  there  are  laws  in  nature,  forces  working  with  the  regu- 
larity of  uniform  law,  and  thinks  of  the  wonder  working  and  car- 
ing God  as  the  great  Lawgiver.  Soon  the  child  regards  the  law 
as  for  him,  and  sees  the  ideals  held  before  his  own  life  by  a  right- 
eous God.  Now  when  the  age  of  adolescence  is  reached  when  he 
makes  life  choices  of  companions  and  of  the  objects  of  life,  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  shall  live,  his  conscience  and  will  approve 
the  choice  of  God  as  his  Father  and  Friend.  Thus  would  the 
deeper  nature  of  the  child  develop  if  unfolding  naturally  without 
the  bent  of  sin.  Sin  distorts  it  and  turns  it  aside.  The  tendency 
by  heredity  is  therefore  toward  God  by  the  original  nature,  away 


HEREDITY  151 

from  God  by  acquired  characteristics.  God  now  makes  a  further 
revelation  of  Himself,  and  comes  into  closer  relations  with  man. 
When  this  revelation  is  received,  this  closer  relation  embraced,  the 
tendencies  of  the  original  and  indestructible  nature  are  reinforced, 
and  this  renewed  nature  descends  from  father  to  son,  as  all 
nature  does  by  heredity.  In  a  true  sense  he  is  now  again  a  child  of 
God ;  he  is  the  same  in  nature  with  God  as  a  child  has  the  nature 
of  the  father.  Children  of  Christian  parents  should  not  be  re- 
garded by  them  as  belonging  to  the  world  but  as  belonging  to 
Christ,  as  having  by  heredity  Christ's  nature.  Still  heredity  is 
only  a  tendency,  but  it  may  become  a  ver}'^  strong  one.  As  no  one 
need  be  a  slave  to  his  dead  grandfather,  so  no  one  is  forced  to 
be  a  prince ;  though  descended  from  a  long  line  of  princes,  he  may 
throw  away  his  crown.  But  both  for  warning  and  for  stimulus 
God  appeals  to  man,  choose  wisely  for  you  are  choosing  not  only 
for  yourself,  but  for  your  children. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Institution  of  the  Family. 

In  God's  plan,  as  we  study  it,  both  in  nature  and  in  revela- 
tion the  Family  is  formed  and  guarded  as  the  source  of  heredity. 
The  more  importance  we  can  discover  in  heredity  the  greater 
becomes  the  value  of  the  family  to  the  welfare  and  progress  of 
society.  That  the  family  also  becomes  the  radiating  center  of 
many  strong  forces  of  environment  to  individuals  and  society  is 
also  evident,  and  shows  that  its  value  cannot  be  over  estimated. 

Adam  and  Eve  were  married  by  God  himself  in  a  garden  of 
fruit  and  flowers.  If  we  adopt  the  theory  that  Adam  was 
evolved  from  the  highest  form  of  animal  life,  as  we  have  seen  in 
a  former  chapter  there  is  much  reason  for  believing,  still  we  must 
conclude  that  this  could  be  only  of  a  part  of  his  nature.  To 
account  for  the  fully  rounded  complete  man  there  is  needed  the 
special  creative  act  of  God  endowing  him  with  His  own  likeness, 
by  His  own  increasing  immanence.  This  must  have  wrought  a 
great  change  in  that  part  of  man's  nature  evolved  from  existing 
animal  life  giving  rise  to  many  striking  features  separating  him 
from  the  highest  animal  in  physical,  mental  and  social  nature. 
This  spiritual  nature,  the  likeness  of  God,  becomes  the  main  ele- 
ment constituting  man  a  social  being.  To  constitute  another 
socius  to  form  with  Adam  the  beginning  of  human  society  there 
would  of  necessity  be  a  repetition  of  the  special  creative  act  of 
God,  which  does  not  seem  to  be  His  way  in  nature,  or  the  second 
socius  must  come  from  the  first,  must  come  by  an  initial  heredity 
from  the  same  complete  nature  in  Adam.  This  is  the  way  nature 
intimates  in  evolution  for  at  the  beginninig  of  animal  life  on  the 
earth  the  propagation  was  by  division,  and  sex  arose  from  it,  and 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  153 

this  is  the  way  clearly  stated  in  the  Bible  account  of  the  creation 
of  Eve.  By  this  kind  of  propagation  the  heredity  is  complete,  the 
same  life  is  passed  on  by  division. 

Grod  found  no  suitable  companion  for  Adam  in  the  highest 
form  of  animal  life  and  formed  Eve  from  his  side.  So  Eve  vv^as 
of  the  same  complete  nature  as  Adam  both  as  to  the  evolved  ani- 
mal life  and  as  the  specially  in-breathed  life,  the  likeness  of 
God.  While  Adam  and  Eve  in  their  lower  nature  may  have 
evolved  from  the  general  animal  life  as  originally  implanted  in 
the  earth  by  the  Great  Creator,  their  higher  nature  inbreathed 
by  God  in  a  special  creative  act  separated  them  from  the  highest 
animals  and  made  them  peculiarly  social  beings. 

Evolution  often  proceeds  by  jumps,  it  advances  by  marked 
mutations  giving  rise  to  freaks  and  sports,  and  these  by  the  process 
of  propagation  and  through  increased  power  of  adapting  them- 
selves to  environment  form  new  species  in  the  ascending  grades 
of  life.  Such  may  have  been  the  case  in  the  last  stages  of  the 
evolution  of  the  animal  nature  of  Adam.  From  this  highest  form 
of  animal  life  the  fairest  specimen  was  selected  for  the  inbreathing 
of  the  increasing  immanence  of  God,  the  creation  in  His  like- 
ness. 

This  highest  form  of  animal  life  may  have  persisted  and  been 
a  form  of  life  running  alongside  of  that  of  Adam  and  Eve,  until 
for  grave  reasons  God  destroyed  it.  Many  efforts  have  been 
made,  but  none  of  them  are  quite  satisfactory  to  interpret  that 
strange  statement  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Genesis;  it  may  be  that 
evolution  explains  it.  It  is  there  stated  that  men,  so  the  highest 
form  of  animal  life  was  called,  multiplied  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  that  the  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men  that  they 
were  fair  and  they  took  them  wives  of  all  they  chose.  Two 
comments  are  made  in  the  chapter  upon  this  statement.  The 
first  is,  The  Lord  said  "my  spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with 
man  for  that  he  also  is  flesh".  The  second  is  that  when  the 
"daughters  of  men  bore  children  to  the  sons  of  God  they  were 
giants,"  mighty  men,  men  of  renown,  their  size  and  strength  being 
noted.     In  this  connection  it  is  also  said  that  God  saw  the  wick- 


154  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

edness  of  men  was  great,  wickedness  specially  of  violence  and 
lust,  and  to  destroy  such  a  race  of  men  He  sent  the  flood  upon 
the  earth,  Noah  and  his  family  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Lord,  there  is  more  than  an  intimation  that  he  had  preserved 
purity  of  descent  in  his  family;  and  they  were  spared  to  continue 
the  race  of  the  sons  of  God,  the  race  of  those  having  the  like- 
ness of  God,  upon  the  earth.  The  original  race  from  which  Adam 
in  his  lower  nature  was  evolved,  here  called  the  race  of  men,  had 
persisted  till  that  time  and  was  then  swept  out  of  existence  by 
the  flood,  and  no  remains  of  them  have  ever  been  discovered  nor 
has  a  single  specimen  of  them  survived.  The  destruction  was 
complete,  and  for  a  sufficient  cause,  worthy  of  God  in  both 
respects.  It  was  to  prevent  any  mixing  of  blood  of  those  having 
the  likeness  of  God  with  those  not  having  that  likeness,  it  was 
to  secure  by  heredity  the  pure  descent  of  the  likeness  of  God  nature 
of  man  through  succeeding  generations  for  all  time. 

While  we  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter  that  monogamy  is 
taught  in  nature,  and  while  this  is  clear  m  the  creation  of  Adam 
and  Eve  and  the  formation  of  the  first  family,  it  is  quite  evident 
from  the  pictures  of  early  social  life  given  in  Genesis  that  the 
relation  of  the  sexes  has  been  from  the  first  a  difficult  matter  to 
control,  for  the  welfare  of  society  in  succeeding  generations.  The 
excesses  of  lust  were  not  only  with  the  original  race  from  which 
Adam  was  evolved,  and  which  was  swept  out  of  existence  by  the 
just  judgment  of  God,  but  raged  among  those  who  were  created 
in  the  likeness  of  God,  and  frequently  broke  through  the  family 
lines  as  established  in  the  first  formation  of  that  divine  institution. 
Polygamy  in  the  family  and  licentiousness  outside  family  lines  pre- 
vailed to  a  large  extent  when  the  special  supernatural  revelation 
of  God  began  to  be  made  to  Abraham,  and  when  the  particular 
society  of  the  Bible  began  to  form  around  that  revelation.  The 
societies  of  Bab3don,  Egypt  and  Canaan,  as  we  catch  glimpses  of 
them  in  reading  the  life  of  Abraham,  show  some  respect  for  wom- 
anhood and  for  the  laws  of  hospitality,  but  they  also  reveal 
polygamy,  concubinage  and  wide  spread  licentiousness. 

The  family  of  Abraham  for  many  years  flows  on  as  an  ideal 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  155 

family  as  far  as  husband  and  wife  are  concerned;  they  loved  each 
other;  treated  each  other  with  gentle  and  stately  courtesy;  the 
finer  psychic  feelings  arising  from  the  relation  of  the  sexes  evi- 
dently found  a  healthful  and  beautiful  growth  in  them  both. 
But  there  was  one  element  of  true  family  life  that  was  lacking; 
there  were  no  children ;  the  father  and  the  mother  nature  was 
present  and  strong  but  was  denied  its  exercise,  there  was  a  great 
longing  for  children,  but  no  children  were  given.  The  custom 
which  prevailed  in  the  surrounding  society  suggested  to  Sarah 
that  she  give  Hagar,  her  Egyptian  hand  maiden  to  Abraham  to 
be  his  wife.  Thus  polygamy  was  introduced  and  brought  only  , 
misery. 

The  wonder  is  it  was  introduced  so  late,  and  to  such  a  small 
extent;  there  is  no  wonder  that  it  was  not  blessed  by  God.  We 
have  already  noted  that  the  marriage  of  Isaac  and  Rebekah  was  a 
fine  instane  of  monogamy  in  that  early  day  and  gave  rise  to 
striking  diversity  in  heredity  in  pure  descent.  Esau  with  much 
likeness  to  the  mother  becoming  the  father  of  a  strong  race  of 
adventurous  character,  and  Jacob,  with  much  likeness  to  the  father 
becoming  the  head  of  Israel.  When  we  consider  this  family  of 
Jacob  we  find  polygamy,  introduced  again  from  the  surrounding 
society.  There  is  a  marriage  of  convenience  without  heart  made 
by  the  father  of  the  bride  according  to  the  customs  of  his  race, 
followed  by  a  marriage  of  true  love ;  these  two  marriages  flow 
along  together  in  the  family  life,  not  always  smoothly,  sometimes 
quite  tumultously,  and  the  heads  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel 
are  born  in  a  polygamous  family,  of  one  father  from  several  wives. 
The  monogamous  family  as  founded  in  Adam  and  Eve  had  been 
corrupted  in  general  society  by  polygamy,  concubinage  and 
licentiousness;  and  now  in  the  particular  society  formed  around 
a  supernatural  revelation  of  God  in  the  first  four  generations  the 
monogamy  was  present  and  prominent  as  the  source  of  family  wel- 
ware  and  polygamy  was  present  too  and  prominent  as  the  source 
of  much  distress  and  also  of  some  strength.  The  family  cor- 
responds closely  with  that  in  the  general  society  but  there  is  also 
a  prominence  given  to  monogamy  in  the  clearly  described  life  long 


156  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

affection  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  Isaac  and  Rebekah  and  Jacob 
and  Rachel,  the  real  and  ideal  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  race. 

With  polygamy  so  firmly  established  in  the  general  surrounding 
society  and  having  such  a  strong  position  in  the  beginning  of  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible,  it  is  quite  remarkable  that  instead 
of  becoming  fully  established  and  spreading  in  the  growth  of  that 
society  it  diminishes  and  at  length  vanishes  away.  The  nation 
arises  from  the  family.  In  the  concise  history  of  the  nation  many 
glimpses  of  family  life  are  given,  and  generally  it  may  be  said  that 
the  family  is  monogamous.  Little  is  said  of  polygamy,  it  does  not 
seem  to  exist  except  among  the  kings  and  princes,  even  here  the 
largest  and  best  family  life  seems  monogamous,  though  there  are 
frequent  instances  of  more  than  one  wife  and  some  striking  cases 
of  a  multitude  of  wives.  Many  of  these  wives  of  kings  seem  to 
have  been  merely  nominal  wives,  princesses  of  neighboring  nations 
having  positions  of  honor  and  influence  in  the  household  of  the 
king  as  ties  of  allegiance  with  those  nations.  The  picture  of  a  life 
in  a  polygamous  family  is  truthfully  drawn  and  frequently  shows 
in  these  later  cases  as  in  the  earlier  ones,  that  the  rivalry  of  wives 
and  their  children  was  a  disturbing  element  productive  often  times 
of  disaster.  The  story  of  the  patriarchal  and  royal  families  is  so 
told  as  not  to  encourage  but  rather  to  discourage  polygamy.  In 
the  laws  given  by  God  through  Moses  polygamy  is  not  sanctioned 
or  protected,  the  sole  exception  being  that  the  eldest  son  though 
born  of  a  hated  wife  shall  inherit  the  first  bom's  portion,  and  this 
provision  itself  warns  against  polygamy  as  introducing  rivalry  of 
wives  and  children.  In  the  land  laws  as  we  shall  see  the  policy 
was  to  provide  small  estates  in  each  family  and  to  foster  a  wide 
distribution  of  wealth,  and  this  policy  was  discouraging  to  polyg- 
amy. So  the  policy  of  this  particular  society  of  the  Bible  in  the 
way  the  history  is  told,  in  the  laws  of  the  family  and  those  laws 
bearing  incidentally  upon  the  family,  discouraged  polygamy.  So- 
ciety was  influenced  to  shake  ofi  polygamy  which  it  had  inherited 
from  the  general  society  and  to  revert  to  monogamy  as  established 
by  God  in  the  creation  of  Adam  and  Eve. 

The  prophets  are  silent  as  to  polygamy,  evidently  it  was  not  at 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  157 

all  prevailing  in  their  day;  if  it  existed  at  all  it  was  so  outgrown 
that  it  could  well  be  ignored  by  these  preachers  of  righteousness. 
Hosea,  whose  prophecy  is  in  some  sense  the  very  heart  of  the  Old 
Testament  has  a  faithless  wife;  he  is  righteously  indignant  at  her 
infidelity  but  his  love  for  her  is  quenchless,  and  he  sees  in  these 
conflicting  feelings  in  his  heart  a  revelation  of  the  nature  of  God 
in  his  relation  to  His  people.  God  through  the  prophets  fre- 
quently charges  His  people  with  adultery,  that  they  have  been  un- 
true to  Him ;  but  He  loves  them  still,  and  the  marriage  He  holds 
before  them  as  an  illustration  of  His  relation  to  them  is  always 
and  only  of  monogamy,  and  the  ideal  He  pleads  for  is  the  lifelong 
exclusive  affection  of  one  husband  for  one  wife,  and  a  true  return 
of  Such  an  aiifection. 

When  we  come  to  the  time  of  Christ  He  moves  among  all 
classes  and  conditions  of  men  but  He  does  not  seem  to  come  in 
contact  with  polygamy  at  all;  He  chooses  His  illustrations  and 
parables  from  the  life  about  him,  but  he  has  no  picture  of  polyg- 
amy, He  teaches  fully  upon  social  problems  but  He  has  no  teaching 
upon  this  feature  of  family  life.  Evidently  polgyamy  was  not  a 
live  question  in  His  day,  it  no  longer  existed  in  the  particular 
society  gathered  around  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God.  It 
is  not  a  live  question  in  Christian  lands.  It  has  been  outlawed 
even  by  the  Mormons. 

The  short  utterances  of  Christ  regarding  the  family  place  Him 
in  this  as  in  all  other  respects  at  the  head  of  all  teachers  on  social 
themes.  Speaking,  in  the  sermon  on  the  Mount,  of  adultery.  He 
claims  that  the  Commandments  were  spoken  in  the  constitution 
of  man's  nature,  were  written  on  the  heart  before  they  were 
uttered  on  Sinai,  or  were  written  on  the  tables  of  stone ;  and  that 
lusting  after  a  woman  not  only  leads  to  their  violation  but  is  itself 
a  sin.  Speaking  of  marriage,  he  teaches  that  it  is  founded  in  the 
nature  of  the  sexes ;  that  it  demands  the  exclusive  affection  of  two 
souls  for  each  other,  so  that  one  leaves  father  and  mother  and 
clings  to  his  wife ;  and  that  it  results  in  the  unity  of  nature,  the 
two  becoming  one  flesh.  Answering  the  Pharisees  on  the  question 
of   divorce,    He    in    His   authority   withdraws   the   permission   of 


r 


158  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Moses  made  on  account  of  their  hardness  of  heart,  and  brings  out 
again  in  clearness  and  fulness  the  original  divine  institution  of 
marriage  in  the  creation  of  Adam  and  Eve.  Following  this 
teaching  is  His  blessing  of  the  little  children  lovingly  brought  to 
Him  by  their  mothers,  and  pronouncing  that  of  such  is  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven.  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  will  one  day  take  full 
possession  of  the  earth,  it  will  be  by  the  heredity  of  a  thousand 
generations  of  those  who  love  and  serve  God,  and  the  old  heredity 
of  the  nature  of  Adam  will  be  wiped  out  by  the  heredity  of  the 
children  of  the  covenant,  the  children  of  God.  The  striking  fea- 
ture of  these  teachings  of  Christ  is  that  He  states  first  principles, 
that  He  goes  back  to  the  creation  of  the  sexes  and  their  meaning, 
to  the  marriage  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden,  and  to  the  Ten 
Commandments  and  finds  in  these  the  constructive  lines  of  the 
true  family,  and  in  it  He  provides  for  the  welfare  of  the  race  in 
successive  generations  resulting  in  the  establishment  of  the  King- 
dom of  God,  the  ideal  society  of  the  race  of  man  on  the  earth. 

The  Apostles  of  Our  Lord  follow  His  teachings  and  bring  out 
in  greater  clearness  the  teachings  of  the  prophets,  that  this  highest 
relation  in  society  illustrates  the  relation  of  the  church  with  God, 
she  is  the  bride  of  the  Lord ;  illustrates  the  relation  of  men  with 
God,  he  is  their  Father,  they  are  His  children.  "Husbands  love 
your  wives  even  as  Christ  loved  the  Church  and  gave  Himself  for 
it.  So  ought  men  to  love  their  wives  as  their  own  bodies.  He 
that  loveth  his  wife  loveth  himself.  Wives  be  subject  to  your 
husbands  as  the  Church  is  to  Christ.  Children  obey  your  parents 
in  the  Lord.  Honor  thy  father  and  mother  which  is  the  first 
commandment  with  promise.  Fathers  bring  up  your  children  in 
the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord." 

"The  race  of  man  as  all  other  races  of  being  on  the  earth  is 
existing  in  succesive  generations  through  the  relation  of  sexes; 
and  in  the  nature  of  man  as  seen  in  the  creation  of  Adam  and 
Eve,  and  in  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God  to  man,  is  clearly 
seen  that  the  successive  generations  of  the  race  are  to  arise  through 
and  be  cared  for  in  the  family  of  one  husband  and  one  wife.    The 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  159 

distinction  of  the  sexes  finds  its  scope  and  aim  in  the  monogamous  ^ 
family  for  the  production  of  succeeding  generations. 

The  marriage  relation  is  the  regulation  of  the  relation  of  the  ->( 
sexes  for  the  production  and  care  of  children.  When  Adam  and 
Eve  were  created  and  before  sin  had  touched  them,  God  blessed 
them  with  the  commission  to  be  fruitful  and  multiply.  After  their 
sin  there  was  to  be  sorrow  and  also  great  joy  and  hope  in  the  con- 
ception of  children,  the  great  promise  was  wrapt  up  in  the  child 
of  their  union,  and  Eve's  name  of  honor  was  the  "princess  of  life". 
The  first  child  born  into  the  world  was  regarded  as  the  special 
gift  of  God,  the  great  life  giver.  This  original  feature  of  mar- 
riage, the  gift  from  God  of  children,  is  very  prominent  in  the 
family  life  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  gathered  around 
the  supernatural  revelation  of  God.  We  have  just  seen  that  the 
adoption  of  polygamy  in  the  family  of  Abraham  came  from  the 
desire  of  Abraham  and  Sarah  for  a  child.  God  withheld  the  child 
of  promise  from  that  device  of  theirs,  and  in  the  long  delay  He 
cultured  their  faith  in  Him  as  the  great  life  giver.  There  are 
many  hints  given  that  the  natural  craving  for  children  was  fos- 
tered in  the  Hebrew  family  by  the  special  covenant  of  God  with 
them  to  be  a  God  to  their  children,  that  children  were  regarded 
peculiarly  as  gifts  from  their  God,  to  be  sought  and  eagerly  wel- 
comed and  carefully  brought  up  for  Him.  Whatever  view  they 
may  have  had  of  the  purpose  of  God  to  bless  them  and  through 
them  to  bless  the  world,  it  was  to  be  through  their  children.  As 
those  of  keener  insight  discerned  that  the  great  blessing  would 
come  through  a  special  child  the  hope  must  have  grown  in  such 
hearts  that  he  would  be  their  child.  The  history  of  the  Hebrew 
people,  though  very  concise,  is  not  like  so  many  far  more  elaborate 
histories  of  other  nations,  mere  records  of  the  doings  of  great  men, 
mainly  in  battle,  the  story  of  a  nation's  wars  and  heroes,  there  is 
much  of  this  of  course ;  but  there  are  also  many  glimpses  given  us 
of  the  family  life  of  the  people.  Polygamy  we  have  already  seen  ^ 
diminishes  and  vanishes  away.  Divorce,  while  permitted  by  Moses, 
does  not  seem  to  have  largely  prevailed  and  is  withdrawn  entirely 
by  Christ.     Adultery  and  harlotry  are  frowned  upon  and  driven     ^ 


i6q  the  sociology  OF  THE  BIBLE 

out  of  sight.  But  family  life  abounds,  father  and  mother  and 
brothers  and  sisters,  parents  and  their  children  living  together  in 
happy  homes.  It  is  in  such  a  family,  a  typical  Hebrew  family, 
that  the  Son  of  God,  the  culmination  of  the  supernatural  revela- 
tion of  God,  spends  the  years  of  His  youth  and  young  manhood. 
'  This  glance  at  the  family  in  Bible  sociology  shows  that  in  it 
God  cultures  the  social  nature  of  man  in  the  finest  directions. 
The  monogamous  family  where  there  are  many  children  is  the 
heart  of  social  welfare;  from  it  there  pulsates  through  all  parts 
of  the  social  organism  the  living  currents  of  health.  In  every 
man  and  woman  there  are  complimental  qualities  which  do  not 
find  their  full  development,  which  cannot  come  into  healthy  exer- 
cise until  that  man  and  woman  become  one  in  true  marriage.  In 
every  man  there  is  the  capacity  of  a  husband,  in  every  woman  the 
fine  feelings  of  a  wife,  but  these  can  never  be  brought  into  full 
development  until  marriage  joins  the  two  in  one.  Purity,  trust, 
love,  service,  life  long  and  powerful,  the  refinement  of  the  womanly 
nature,  the  strength  of  devotion  in  the  manly  nature,  these  can 
grow  only  in  the  marriage  of  the  two.  The  fine  and  noble  psychic 
feelings  based  on  sex  are  developed  only  in  marriage.  Human 
nature  is  not  complete  either  in  man  or  woman,  nor  in  any  other 
relation  they  can  bear  to  each  other,  it  only  becomes  complete 
when  they  are  united  in  marriage.  Through  all  the  ages  it  is  true 
man  is  not  made  to  live  alone,  it  is  true  of  both  sexes,  but  man  is 
the  specially  dependent  one.  The  more  fully  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  established  on  earth  the  more  will  the  ideal  family  flourish. 
We  are  taught  there  shall  be  no  marriage  in  Heaven,  no  successive 
generations  in  that  unending  life,  but  doubtlessly  the  finer  feelings 
cultured  here  in  the  family  will  persist  in  the  eternal  life.  The 
family  that  is  a  bit  of  heaven  in  this  life  prepares  for  the  Heaven 
beyond ;  from  it  shall  go  forth  unending  graces  and  virtues  that 
can  find  their  true  culture  only  in  the  family  on  earth ;  heaven 
will  be  richer  through  eternity  by  the  outgrowth  of  the  family  in 
time,  richer  in  numbers  not  only  but  far  richer  in  quality. 

But  the  monogamous  family  is  not  complete,  is  far  from  ideal, 
until  children  are  born  into  it.     In  every  man  there  is  a  capacity 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  i6i 

for  fatherhood,  these  great  and  noble  qualities,  so  much  like  God, 
can  be  brought  into  full  development  only  by  his  becoming  a 
father.  He  cannot  begin  to  understand  much  of  God  until  he 
becomes  a  father,  all  he  can  understand  until  that  feeling  is  awak- 
ened in  him,  must  be  in  the  nature  of  description,  of  hear-say  evi- 
dence, he  knows  by  experience  only  when  he  becomes  a  father.  In 
every  woman  there  is  the  capacity  for  mother-hood,  there  is  no 
love  like  mother  love,  there  is  no  joy  like  mother-joy,  but  these 
can  be  brought  into  full  development  only  by  her  clasping  her 
babe  to  her  bosom.  In  the  long  anticipation  of  the  coming  babe, 
and  in  the  mutual  care  of  the  child  growing  to  maturity  the 
husband  and  wife  are  drawn  together  in  the  closest  possible  social 
ties,  and  have  joys  all  others  must  be  ignorant  of;  though  all 
others  are  capable  of  them  but  only  through  God's  gift  to  them 
of  their  own  child. 

A  single  child  is  a  great  blessing  to  a  father  and  mother,  a 
treasure  beyond  price,  life  of  their  life,  but  the  family  has  not 
reached  the  ideal  when  only  one  child  is  the  sole  treasure.  Every 
child  has  capacities  for  brotherhood,  for  sisterhood,  all  the  noble 
qualities  we  call  brotherly,  sisterly,  are  present  in  the  child  but  are 
dormant,  and  must  to  a  large  extent  lie  dormant  until  they  find 
their  exercise  awakened  by  another  child  born  in  that  family. 
The  ideal  family  must  consist  of  at  least  four  children  growing  up 
together,  each  boy  having  a  brother  and  a  sister,  each  girl  a 
brother  and  a  sister.  Then  these  noble  qualities  are  called  into 
exercise  in  early  life,  in  the  most  sensitive  period,  are  cultured 
through  many  years  of  formation  of  character  and  become  fully 
developed.  The  father  and  mother  qualities  are  also  greatly  en- 
riched and  invigorated  by  the  gift  of  these  other  children,  their 
lives  in  mature  life  are  kept  young  by  the  young  life  about  them, 
and  their  advancing  age  becomes  blessed  in  the  welfare  of  their 
children. 

The  ideal  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  that  of  brotherhood,  sister- 
hood in  the  many  relations  of  society,  but  the  real  spirit  of  brother- 
hood and  sister-hood  is  the  spirit  that  arises  in  the  family  from 
blood    relationship,   and   can   arise  only  in   that  wa3\     All   these 


i62  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

qualities,  the  finer  psychic  qualities  of  our  nature  can  only  be 
brought  from  a  dormant  into  an  active  state  in  the  ideal  family. 
They  are  all  embraced  in  the  covenant  God  has  made  with  man 
in  the  supernatural  revelation  of  Himself.  But  God  never  throws 
aside,  He  always  uses  the  nature  He  too  made,  and  makes  it  more 
plain  to  His  intelligent  children.  In  the  particular  society  of  the 
Bible  He  fosters  the  growth  of  a  family  life  which  shall  carry  on 
j  „^   these  qualities  of  heredity  to  the  thousandth  generation. 

It  is  true  as  Spencer  has  discerned  and  described  in  his  Princi- 
ples of  Biology  that  there  is  an  antagonism  between  individuation 
and  genesis,  the  higher  the  individual  life  becomes  the  less  prolific 
it  is,  as  the  birth  rate  falls  the  quality  of  life  rises.  But  there  is  a 
limit  to  the  small  birth  rate,  it  is  quite  obvious  that  the  maximum 
of  the  quality  of  life  must  be  in  no  danger  of  extinction,  it  is  also 
obvious  that  the  birth  rate  must  not  be  so  small  that  the  individu- 
ation itself  is  stunted.  The  maximum  of  life  must  include  the 
natural  qualities  we  have  been  considering.  The  qualities  of  life, 
the  human  happiness  and  well  being,  the  inherent  worth  of  life 
includes  the  father  and  mother  qualities,  the  brother  and  sister 
qualities.  The  individual  life  is  not  as  rich  and  full  a  life  as  it 
might  be  if  it  lacks  a  single  one  of  these.  The  individual  worth  of 
life  is  in  the  social  nature.  The  welfare  of  society  is  also  found 
in  the  fully  rounded  life  of  the  individuals. 

Without  anticipating  the  Institution  of  Control  which  will  de- 
"^  mand  consideration  by  itself,  it  may  be  stated  simply  that  the 
spirit  of  wise  government  must  flow  from  parentage.  The  parental 
qualities  make  the  aim  of  family  government  to  be  for  the  welfare 
of  the  governed,  these  may  succeed  or  fail  as  they  act  wisely  or 
unwisely,  but  that  is  the  aim,  the  welfare  of  the  children.  This 
gives  the  best  direction  for  all  kinds  of  government,  the  welfare  of 
the  governed.  Then  too  the  obedience  of  children  in  such  a 
family  is  not  of  fear  but  of  love,  recognizing  the  need  of  such 
government,  an  obedience  of  loyalty  to  the  parents.  This  spirit 
becomes  by  natural  growth  the  spirit  of  citizens  in  such  a  govern- 
ment, the  obedience  of  loyalty  to  the  State.  In  the  family  where 
there  are  at  least  four  children,  the  brother  and  sister  qualities 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  163 

being  in  full  exercise,  the  living  for  self  finds  its  proper  develop- 
ment and  its  healthy  limits  in  living  v\^ith  and  for  others.  Thus 
the  spirit  of  true  citizenship  is  cultured  in  the  family,  the  sharing 
the  opportunities,  privileges  and  responsibilities  of  life  in  a  brother- 
ly spirit. 

The  policy  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  grouped  around 
the  supernatural  revelation  of  God  favored  such  family  life.  We 
see  it  in  the  ideals  of  their  being  a  people  in  convenant  with  God 
through  successive  generations;  we  see  it  in  the  way  the  story  of 
the  national  life  is  told  showing  such  families  flourishing;  we  see 
it  in  the  provisions  of  the  land  laws  providing  for  the  existence  of 
multitudes  of  such  families ;  and  we  see  it  especially  in  the  laws 
God  gave  through  Moses  concerning  the  relation  of  the  sexes 
fostering  and  guarding  such  families.  It  needs  no  courage  to 
maintain  that  society  and  religion  are  alike  dependent  for  their 
existence  and  welfare  upon  the  formation  of  the  complete  family. 
When  such  families  flourish  in  largest  numbers  the  highest  welfare 
of  the  race  is  advanced. 

Two  growing  tendencies  in  Christian  civilization  today  may 
demand  comparison  with  the  family  life  fostered  by  the  sociology 
of  the  Bible;  they  are  the  hesitancy  of  the  cultured  to  enter 
marriage,  or  when  married  to  have  children.  It  is  asserted  that 
in  1907  thirty  per  cent  of  the  surviving  graduates  of  Harvard 
of  the  classes  of  1872  and  1877  inclusive,  are  unmarried,  and 
those  who  are  married  have  an  average  of  only  two  children  in 
each  family;  the  assertion  being  attributed  to  the  honored  Pres- 
ident of  that  University.  In  the  whole  United  States,  according 
to  the  census  of  1900,  sixty-six  per  cent  of  the  men  between  the  ages 
of  seventeen  and  thirty-five  were  unmarried,  and  the  average  age 
at  which  thirty-four  per  cent  married  was  twenty-five  years.  In 
Great  Britain  the  marriages  have  fallen  off  in  the  thirty-five  years 
since  1872  about  nineteen  per  cent.  In  France  in  1893  Kidd 
asserts  that  out  of  1000  men  over  twenty  years  old  only  609 
were  married.  There  is  a  foreign  proverb:  "The  man  without 
a  home  is  more  dangerous  than  the  asp  or  dragon".  Bacon  says, 
"He   that   hath  wife   and   children   hath   given   hostages  to   for- 


i64  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

tune".  Parkhurst  says,  "The  decadence  of  the  home  idea  is  the 
sorest  spot  in  New  York  City  life."  In  the  Senate  of  France  a 
bill  was  recently  introduced  to  tax  bachelors  and  spinsters,  an 
instance  of  seeking  a  remedy  in  legislation  without  searching  for 
the  cause  of  the  evil  in  society.  Some  have  sought  the  cause  in 
industrial  conditions,  in  the  increase  of  occupations  for  women, 
making  them  independent  of  marriage,  increasing  girl  bachelors 
and  of  course  men  bachelors,  and  reducing  wages  so  it  becomes 
more  difficult  for  men  to  earn  enough  to  support  wives.  This  doubt- 
lessly has  something  to  do  with  the  tendency;  but  on  the  other 
hand  the  low  views  of  the  family,  leaving  children  out  of  the  ideal, 
and  the  accompanying  low  views  of  the  nature  of  marriage  and 
the  increase  of  divorce  are  much  the  stronger  factors.  The  birth 
rate  is  diminishsing  in  white  civilized  countries  except  Russia, 
where  the  average  number  of  children  to  a  married  couple  is  over 
six.  In  France  recent  government  investigations  show  that  there 
has  been  little  change  in  the  number  of  marriages  in  the  last 
seventy  years,  but  that  the  excess  of  births  over  deaths  has  greatly 
diminished;  in  1830  it  was  61  for  every  ten  thousand  of  the  pop- 
ulation, while  in  1900  it  was  only  three.  In  France  out  of  every 
one  thousand  families,  two  hundred  have  no  children,  and  six  hun- 
dred and  forty  have  only  one  or  two  children  apiece.  French 
thinkers  mention  among  causes  for  this  low  birth  rate  the  law  of 
equal  division  of  real  estate,  the  growth  of  poverty  and  of  high 
taxation.  But  here  also  the  greater  factor  is  wrong  views  of 
marriage  and  the  family  relation.  Much  of  the  literature  of  that 
highly  cultivated  people  is  the  description  or  defense  of  elegant 
libertinism.  Many  countries  of  western  Europe  are  approaching 
the  condition  of  France,  but  in  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  the 
decrease,  though  great,  is  not  so  marked. 

Bulletin  No.  22  of  the  census  of  1900  of  the  United  States 
deals  with  the  birth  rate  and  is  more  important  than  many  pub- 
lic documents  on  tarifif  and  currency.  Prof.  Wilcox  of  Cornell 
finds  by  comparison  of  this  with  other  census  reports  that  in  1800 
children  vmder  ten  years  of  age  constituted  one-third  of  the  pop- 
ulation while  in    1900  they  constituted   less  than  one-fourth  the 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  165 

population.  He  also  says  that  in  i860  the  number  of  children 
under  five  years  of  age  to  one  thousand  women  of  the  child  bear- 
ing age,  was  six  hundred  and  thirty-four,  while  in  1900  it  was 
only  474.  If  foreign  born  women  are  excluded  the  decline  is 
much  more  marked.  The  decline  varies  in  different  States, 
several  States  and  those  the  richest  in  men  of  ability,  in  colleges 
and  universities,  show  a  decline  drifting  perilously  near  that  of 
France.  Prof.  Karl  Pearson  whose  statistics  are  of  the  best,  says 
that  pairs  of  exceptional  parents  produce  exceptional  sons  at  a 
rate  more  than  ten  times  as  great  as  others.  At  the  same  time 
eighteen  times  as  many  exceptional  sons  are  born  to  non-excep- 
tional parents  as  to  exceptional  ones,  as  the  latter  form  only 
above  one-half  of  one  per  cent  of  the  entire  population.  This 
benificent  law  of  nature  prevents  the  extinction  of  exceptionally 
gifted  men  and  women.  But  surely  such  when  they  come  into 
existence  by  this  law,  should  not  voluntarily  cast  away  their 
ten  times  as  great  probability  of  having  exceptional  children. 

The  natural  decline  of  the  birth  rate,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not 
either  morbid  or  threatening,  but  the  supplementing  it  by  an 
artificial  decline  is  both  morbid  and  threatening  to  the  welfare  of 
society.  The  future  of  any  country  depends  upon  the  character 
of  its  population  and  this  depends  upon  ancestry.  Political  forms, 
educational  methods,  and  social  institutions  are  questions  of  minor 
importance  compared  with  the  fundamental  and  determining  one 
of  heredity.  The  vast  importance  of  the  matter  is  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  American  people  by  President  Roosevelt  who 
says  in  his  message  to  Congress  Dec.  1906,  "The  one  sin  for  which 
the  penalty  is  national  and  race  death  is  wilful  sterility,  a  sin  for 
iwhich  there  is  no  atonement,  a  sin  which  is  more  dreadful  exactly 
in  proportion  as  the  men  and  women  guilty  of  it  are  in  other 
respects,  in  character,  in  bodily  and  mental  powers,  those  whom 
for  the  sake  of  the  State  and  the  race  it  would  be  well  to  see 
fathers  and  mothers  of  many  healthy  children  well  brought  up  in 
homes  made  happy  by  their  presence.  No  man,  no  woman,  can 
shirk  the  primary  duties  of  life,  whether  from  love  of  ease  and 
pleasure,  or  for  any  other  cause,  and  retain  his  or  her  self-respect." 


i66  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

J^  The  long  and  vigorous  life  of  the  Hebrew  nation  extending 
over  one  thousand  years,  and  the  vigorous  existence  of  that  race 
today,  though  it  has  had  no  national  home  for  nearly  two  thousand 
years,  show  conclusively  that  the  Sociology  of  the  Bible  in  foster- 
ing the  complete  family  fosters  race  and  social  strength. 

While  there  was  the  fostering  of  family  life  there  were  also  in 
the  laws  and  policies  of  the  Hebrews  some  severe  restrictions  from 
V  entering  upon  such  life.  The  people  were  discouraged  from  form- 
ing marriage  with  the  Canaanites,  who  remained  in  the  land  or 
with  their  heathen  neighbors.  The  influence  of  conflicting  re- 
ligious views  in  the  family,  the  especially  strong  influence  of  the 
mother  over  the  children,  are  reasons  sufficient  to  account  for  this 
policy,  but  the  reason  of  heredity  also  existed,  it  was  not  only 
guarding  against  corrupt  manners,  but  against  corrupt  blood,  it 
was  guarding  the  covenant  of  "the  thousand  generations."  The 
rash  entrance  of  marriage  prevalent  in  our  modern  life  should  be 
checked  by  wise  foresight.  Only  those  having  supreme  and  ex- 
clusive affection  for  each  other  should  marry,  but  in  addition 
there  should  be  a  reasonable  prospect  of  having  healthy  children, 
and  of  the  man  being  able  to  support  a  family  in  comfort,  and 
with  some  opportunity  of  culture.  Sociologists  today  agree  that 
the  human  race  may  be  improved  by  the  wise  selection  of  parents 
and  by  favorable  conditions  for  raising  children.  The  two  fea- 
tures must  go  together,  fostering  right  marriages  and  preventing 
wrong  marriages.  The  part  heredit}^  works  in  the  increase  of 
the  feeble  minded,  the  insane,  the  criminal  and  pauper  classes  is 
acknowledged  to  be  great.  The  weak  and  vicious  lack  the  self- 
control  to  prevent  marriage  and  reproduction,  and  so  are  in  special 
need  of  State  control.  Many  of  our  States  have  laws  somewhat 
in  harmony  with  the  restrictive  laws  and  policy  of  the  sociology 
of  the  Bible.  Connecticut  probably  takes  the  lead  in  this  line; 
it  has  this  law  on  its  Statute  book.  "No  man  or  woman  either  of 
whom  is  epileptic,  imbecile  or  feeble  minded  shall  intermarry  or 
live  together  as  husband  and  wife,  when  the  woman  is  under 
forty-five  years  of  age."  There  is  a  like  law  against  the  marriage 
of  paupers.     The  penalty  is  State  Prison  for  not  less  than  three 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  167 

years,  and  the  one  aiding  the  violation  of  the  law  may  be  fined  or 
imprisoned  for  one  year.  Ohio,  by  law  passed  in  1904,  refuses 
license  for  marriage  if  either  party  is  an  habitual  drunkard,  epilep- 
tic or  insane.  Other  States  have  kindred  laws.  Whether  the 
State  can  by  law  not  only  check  the  production  of  defective  chil- 
dren, but  can  intelligently  and  wisely  provide  for  the  increase  of 
sound  children  is  a  far  more  difficult  question.  This  too  is  being 
considered  by  our  law  makers,  as  incited  by  public  opinion,  but  no 
such  law  has  yet  been  devised  and  enacted.  The  State  of  Wash- 
ington last  year  considered  such  a  law  and  came  within  a  few  votes 
of  enacting  it,  it  provided  for  the  appointment  in  each  County  of 
a  medical  commission  to  pass  upon  all  applicants  for  marriage 
license  whether  they  gave  reasonable  promise  of  having  healthy 
children.  This  seems  to  be  far  from  ideal,  and  it  is  a  question 
whether  any  law  can  cover  the  case.  It  is  a  matter  more  for  gen- 
eral policy  than  for  legal  enactment.  The  ideal  condition  must  be 
one  of  enlightened  and  moral  public  opinion  which  shall  recognize 
the  sociological  and  religious  truth  that  marriage  is  the  regulation 
of  the  relation  of  the  sexes  for  the  continuance  of  the  race  in  suc- 
cessive generations,  to  the  establishment  of  the  ideal  society,  the 
Kingdom  of  God  on  the  earth.  As  the  prophet  Malachi  insists  \J 
the  Lord  seeks,  and  would  have  his  people  seek,  a  godly  seed. 

There  were  very  few  capital  crimes  in  the  laws  of  God  given  by 
Moses  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to  the  subject  of  social 
pathology,  but  there  was  great  severity  in  the  laws  protecting  the 
purity  of  family  life;  this  is  in  line  with  heredity  in  nature,  and 
with  the  godly  seed  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  God's  teaching, 
both  in  nature  and  in  revelation  is  that  the  relation  of  the  sexes 
provides  for  a  family,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  race  in  successive 
generations,  and  that  the  purity  of  this  family  source  of  life  is 
for  the  highest  welfare  of  society.  The  laws  of  Moses  provided 
that  in  both  adultery  and  fornication  both  the  man  and  the 
woman  guilty  of  the  crime  shall  be  brought  to  the  door  of  the 
damsel's  house,  or  to  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  sentence  being  pro- 
nounced by  the  judges,  the  men  of  the  city  shall  stone  them  with 
stones  until  they  die.    A  bastard  was  not  allowed  in  the  assembly, 

12 


^ 


i68  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  harlotry  was  prohibited.  The  laws  were,  designed  to  foster  a 
public  opinion  that  would  frown  upon  lust,  and  would  favor  the 
pure  family  and  a  pure  seed  to  a  thousand  generations.  The 
history  mentions  even  among  its  prominent  people  some  trans- 
gression of  these  laws,  and  barely  hints  of  the  infliction  of  the 
legal  penalties,  though  the  natural  penalties  may  frequently  be 
recognized,  but  the  general  impression  of  the  history  is  that 
womanhood  was  virtuous  and  honored  and  the  family  life  strong 
and  pure.  The  literature  always  speaks  of  impurity  with  scorn 
and  warning,  poets  warn  against  the  evil  woman  and  orators  de- 
nounce adultery  as  a  crime.  We  boast  of  our  modern  civilization 
as  Christian  and  are  especially  proud  of  our  American  reverence 
for  womanhood,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  a  history  of  our  times  written 
in  the  same  frank  spirit  as  the  Bible  history  and  any  fair  collection 
of  our  literature  would  give  such  a  fine  showing.  Adultery  and 
fornication  are  not  generally  regarded  as  crimes  in  our  country, 
very  few  States  have  so  pronounced  them  on  their  statute  books. 
Mulhall  estimates  that  70  of  every  1000  births  in  the  United 
States  are  bastards,  that  is  not  as  bad  as  Austria  with  145  such, 
but  it  is  bad  enough,  it  is  not  quite  as  bad  as  France  and  about 
equal  with  Scotland,  and  far  worse  than  Ireland  with  only  26  such 
births.  The  prevalence  of  harlotry  in  our  modern  civilization  is 
far  greater  than  is  generally  recognized.  The  Prefect  of  Police 
of  Paris  estimated  a  year  ago  that  there  were  100,000  prostitutes 
in  that  city.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  at  least  50,000  prosti- 
tutes in  New  York  City.  Mr.  Goodrich  estimates  that  there  are 
five  fallen  men  for  every  fallen  woman,  this  would  give  a  quarter 
of  a  million  such  men  in  that  city;  but  of  course  prostitution  is 
not  supported  by  residents  of  the  city  alone.  The  Police  often 
protect  houses  of  ill  fame,  a  recent  investigation  showed  that  a 
single  house  of  such  inmates  paid  $500.  initiation  fee  to  the  wards- 
man,  and  $50  a  month  for  immunity.  The  committee  of  fifteen 
citizens  appointed  a  few  years  ago  to  investigate  this  vice,  report 
that  the  attempt  to  regulate  the  vice  as  practiced  in  some  European 
cities  is  no  adequate  remedy  for  even  its  physical  effects.  The 
remedy  they  recommend  is  better  housing  of  the  poor,  raising  the 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  169 

condition  of  labor,  especially  of  female  labor,  purer  forms  of 
amusement,  better  hospital  conditions,  better  moral  education,  and 
strong  condemnation  of  public  opinion.  Public  opinion  is  evi- 
dently far  below  the  ancient  Hebrew  law,  it  does  not  prohibit 
harlotry.  The  sternness  and  severity  of  the  law  were  evidently  ^ 
on  the  side  of  social  wellbeing,  and  the  purity  of  the  family  was 
fostered,  the  source  of  pure  and  strong  heredity.  Modern  laxness 
is  destructive  of  the  family,  and  a  weakening  and  corrupting  ele- 
ment in  society. 

While  the  laws  of  Moses  allowed  divorce  there  were  restric-  sC 
tions  imposed  upon  it,  and  the  policy  of  the  society  throughout 
the  national  history  was  against  it.  We  find  very  few  instances 
of  it  in  the  history,  it  is  hardly  referred  to  in  the  philosophical, 
poetical  and  oratorical  literature,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  theo- 
retic discussion  rather  than  of  frequent  practice  in  the  time  of 
Christ.  Christ's  withdrawal  of  the  permission  given  by  Moses 
is  very  decided,  and  seems  to  have  awakened  academic  objection 
in  the  College  of  the  Disciples,  rather  than  revolt  upon  the  part 
of  the  populace.  The  theory  and  practice  of  divorce  are  based 
upon  the  theory  and  practice  of  marriage  and  the  family  in  any 
society.  The  policy  of  the  sociology  of  the  Bible  favors  such  a 
view  of  marriage  and  the  family  that  the  permission  of  divorce 
was  not  valued  or  exercised  and  was  at  length  withdrawn  by 
the  final  authority  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

As  our  modern  civilization  has  wandered  somewhat  from  the 
theory  of  marriage  and  the  family  of  the  particular  society  of  the 
Bible,  so  the  theory  of  divorce  follows  this  wandering.  The  heart 
of  our  civilization  is  strong  and  sound,  the  great  majority  of 
marriages  in  the  United  States  are  life  unions  of  love  and  fidel- 
ity, the  husband  a  true  house-band,  and  the  wife  a  true  weaver 
of  love  cords,  binding  husband  and  children  in  a  pure  home  life; 
in  such  marriages  the  theory  of  divorce  finds  no  place.  But  as 
we  have  already  seen  there  is  a  tendency  to  lower  such  ideals,  to 
lower  ideals  of  marriage,  of  children,  of  womanhood,  of  the  fam- 
ily, and  this  tendency  includes  divorce.  Many  of  our  State  laws 
are  drifting  away  from  Christian  theories  toward  the  old  Roman 


I70  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

theory.  The  Roman  Law  regarded  marriage  a  sa  civil  contract, 
the  parties  as  simply  partners,  and  the  partnership  dissolvable  by 
the  parties  under  State  regulation.  The  Christian  law^  is  that 
marriage  is  a  divine  institution,  the  parties  become  one  flesh,  and 
the  union  is  permanent,  can  be  broken  only  by  adultery.  The 
former  view  fosters  heedlessness  in  entering  marriage,  a  spirit  of 
restlessness,  discontent  and  strife  in  marriage,  and  neglects  the 
prospect  and  care  of  children,  it  ignores  the  interest  of  society  in 
the  family,  it  is  in  wide  contrast  with  the  Christian  theory  of  mar- 
riage in  all  these  respects. 

Divorces  are  more  prevalent  in  the  United  States  than  in  any 
other  Christian  nation.  This  is  largely  due  to  the  great  variety 
of  views  held  in  the  different  states,  to  the  laws  flowing  from 
these  views  and  to  the  many  courts  which  grant  divorce.  In 
some  nations  only  the  highest  court  can  grant  divorce  while  with 
us  hundreds  of  courts  have  that  power.  In  some  of  our  States 
adultery  is  the  only  ground  for  divorce,  in  other  States  incompat- 
ibility of  temper  is  suflUcient  ground,  and  in  some  States  divorce 
may  be  granted  by  the  discretion  of  the  judge  of  a  county  court. 

In  one  of  our  States  divorces  have  increased  so  that  where 
thirty  years  ago  there  w^as  one  divorce  for  every  25  marriages, 
last  year  there  was  one  divorce  for  every  nine  marriages.  In  one 
of  the  counties  of  another  State  there  was  one  divorce 
for  every  three  marriages,  and  the  requirement  of  residence 
was  quite  strict.  Twenty  years  ago  in  a  single  year  Great  Britain 
had  only  475  divorces,  France  6,000  and  Germany  about  the 
same  number,  while  in  that  single  year  the  United  States  had  over 
25,000  divorces.  In  the  last  twenty  years  500,000  divorces  have 
been  granted  in  the  United  States,  and  it  may  be  that  1,500,000 
children  have  had  their  homes  broken  up.  Dr.  Morgan  Dix  said 
in  1906  that  in  the  last  twenty  years  Europe  with  a  population  of 
380,000,000  had  granted  214,000  divorces,  while  in  that  same 
time  the  United  States  with  a  population  of  less  than  80,000,000 
had  granted  more  than  500,000  divorces.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  it  costs  something  to  get  a  divorce,  and  sometimes  a  great 
deal,  there  are  lawyers'  fees  and  court  fees  and  in  contested  cases 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  171 

the  great  expense  of  a  trial,  so  divorce  can  be  obtained  only  by 
those  well  off  or  the  rich.  Among  the  poor,  separation  without 
legal  sanction  prevails,  and  living  together  without  a  second  mar- 
riage. The  public  opinion  of  one  class  is  apt  to  follow  that  of 
the  other,  if  the  well  to  do  and  the  rich  are  indifferent  to  divorce 
or  favor  it,  the  poor  will  grow  indifferent  to  separation  or  favor 
it.  But  separation  while  it  thus  flows  from  divorce  laws  must 
also  be  under  their  frown,  and  so  it  is  not  a  matter  of  state  sta- 
tistics. Settlement  workers  and  those  interested  in  the  life  of  the 
poor  agree  that  while  the  heart  of  our  civilization,  the  pure  family, 
is  as  strong  among  the  poor  as  among  the  medium  class  and  the 
rich,  there  is  still  a  large  amount  and  a  growing  amount  of  the 
breaking  up  of  families  and  the  scattering  and  desertion  of  chil- 
dren by  separation.  The  only  remedy  for  the  growing  evil  in  all 
classes  is  a  public  opinion  firmly  based  upon  the  view  of  the 
family  in  the  sociology  of  the  Bible. 

Closely  related  to  family  welfare  is  the  house  in  which  the 
family  lives,  so  closely  that  though  it  belongs  to  the  chapter  on 
environment,  some  reference  must  be  made  to  it  in  any  consider- 
ation of  the  family.  That  loveliest  spot  on  earth,  a  Christian 
home,  is  composed  of  two  elements,  the  family  and  the  house.  A 
very  important  element  in  the  sociology  of  the  Bible  in  foster- 
ing a  pure  family  life  was  the  land  laws  of  the  nation  and  the 
policy  arising  from  them  in  favoring  the  accumulation  and  the 
wide  distribution  of  wealth.  The  land  of  Judea  became  the 
home  of  a  vast  and  prosperous  population,  a  crowded  land  to  be 
compared  with  Belgium  today,  but  it  was  the  policy  of  the  nation 
that  every  family  should  have  a  home  of  its  own,  a  small  estate 
of  land  and  a  modest  though  comfortable  home  in  village  or  town. 
The  house  in  sociology  has  a  history.  Man  is  a  house  builder.  The 
details  of  house  building  differ  in  different  lands  and  ages,  ancient 
and  modern,  northern  and  southern,  oriental  and  occidental. 
There  is  a  long  line  of  changes,  some  of  them  very  curious  and 
perplexing  ones  from  the  cave  and  the  tent  to  the  steel  framed 
sky-scraper.  David  found  Jerusalem  a  cluster  of  hovels  and  left 
it  a  city  of  palaces.     An  emperor  found  Rome  brick  and  left  it 


172  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

marble.     We  are  apt  to  grade  civilization  by  its  great  structures, 
its  temples,  capitols  and  palaces. 

A  more  sensible  way  to  judge  of  its  advance  is  by  the  homes 
p\  of  its  people.  The  greater  the  proportion  of  comfortable  homes 
the  higher  is  the  civilization.  The  pure  family  well  housed  speaks 
well  for  the  welfare  of  society.  The  house  not  only  shelters  the 
family  from  the  weather  but  from  mankind  as  well,  it  gives 
privacy,  and  there  in  virtue  and  refinement,  the  cultivation  as  we 
have  seen  of  the  father  and  mother  qualities,  and  the  brother  and 
sister  qualities,  without  the  intrusion  of  any  disturbing  elements. 
The  principles  arising  in  such  a  home  of  rights,  duties,  privileges, 
of  property  in  each  member  and  of  propriety  among  members,  if 
written  into  a  code  would  make  a  large  and  valuable  book.  There 
are  other  homes,  the  neighborhood  or  city,  and  each  family  while 
isolated  in  its  own  house  is  related  to  all  other  homes,  and  the 
neighborhood  rights,  duties,  privileges  of  property  and  propriety 
would  make  a  code  well  worth  study.  The  houses  also  are  but 
part  of  the  country  or  city,  the  roads  and  streets,  the  landscape  and 
the  parks,  the  light  by  day  and  night,  the  water  and  sanitary  ar- 
rangements are  in  common.  It  is  quite  evident  that  the  policy  of 
any  society  for  its  own  welfare,  should  be  the  fostering  of  the 
greatest  number  of  comfortable  homes,  and  this  is  clearly  the 
policy  of  the  particular  society  gathered  about  the  supernatural 
revelation  of  God  described  in  the  sociology'  of  the  Bible. 

There  are  at  least  two  classes  of  houses  in  the  United  States 
today,  dwelling  places  of  vast  populations,  the  only  homes  they 
know,  which  are  a  disgrace  to  our  country.  The  one  large  class 
is  to  some  extent  a  relic  of  slavery.  Our  negro  population  in  1850 
was  three  and  a  half  millions.  Today  it  is  over  ten  millions. 
Robert  Ogden  says  that  there  are  six  million  negroes  living  in  one 
room  huts  or  cabins  in  the  United  States,  and  that  the  greatest 
barrier  in  the  way  of  improving  the  morals  of  the  negroes  is  in 
these  one  room  dwellings,  sties  rather  than  homes.  The  other 
large  class  of  dwellings  which  are  a  foul  blot  on  our  American 
civilization  is  the  crowded  tenement  houses  of  the  poor  in  our 
large  cities,  especially  in  our  great  metropolis,   the  pride  of  the 


INSTITUTION  OF  THE  FAMILY  173 

continent.  In  a  single  block  in  New  York  City  not  on  the 
crowded  east  side,  but  near  the  Hudson  River,  there  are  sixty-four 
such  tenement  houses;  in  these  houses  there  are  2639  rooms,  only 
1 1 96  of  these  rooms  have  windows  opening  on  the  outer  air;  in 
these  sixty-four  houses  4000  persons  live;  it  is  a  great  commingling 
of  races,  Negroes,  Italians,  Germans,  Poles,  and  all  are  poor.  It 
is  said  there  are  only  two  bath  tubs  in  the  whole  block.  There 
is  an  absence  of  the  privacy  demanded  by  primitive  self  respect. 
The  average  of  arrests  in  this  block  is  one  hundred  a  month,  the 
arrests  fall  below  this  in  Summer  and  arise  above  it  in  Winter. 
The  death  rate  in  the  block  is  27  per  1000,  a  much  higher  death 
rate  than  prevails  in  the  City,  which  is  now  about  18  per  1000, 
over  430  of  the  more  than  1200  families  in  this  block  are  sup- 
ported or  aided  by  public  charity.  The  block  is  a  menace  to  the 
city  the  breeding  place  of  crime,  pauperism  and  death.  But  it  is  a 
very  valuable  block  for  renting  purposes.  Dr.  Tolman  describes 
a  room  in  another  tenement  house,  a  small  room  fifteen  feet  square 
where  five  adults  and  as  many  children  live  and  bend  over  their 
work  the  day  long,  lining  coats.  The  adults  make  a  dollar  a  day 
by  working  fourteen  hours.  This  room  and  a  small  dark  room 
out  of  it  just  large  enough  to  hold  a  bed  are  rented  by  a  father  and 
mother  and  5ix  children,  and  in  order  to  meet  the  rent  they  have 
five  boarders.  There  is  but  one  cooking  utensil  used,  a  frying 
pan.  There  is  no  room  for  privacy,  refinement  or  morality.  The 
grinding  toil,  the  crowded  air  space  and  the  bad  cooking  drive 
old  and  young,  men  and  women,  to  the  saloons  which  abound  in 
the  neighborhood.  There  are  said  to  be  350,000  dark  interior 
rooms  in  New  York  tenement  houses.  The  causes  of  poor  houses 
are  many,  ignorance,  poverty,  greed  for  high  rents  for  poor  ac- 
commodations, big  percentage  on  small  investments,  and  beyond 
these  the  careless  indifference  of  society.  It  is  a  grave  fault  of  the 
individual  or  corporate  owner  not  only,  but  of  society  itself,  to 
make  more  of  property  than  of  people,  to  care  more  for  money  than 
for  souls,  to  ignore  the  Golden  Rule  in  its  application  to  landlord 
and  tenant.  The  remedy  must  be  instruction  on  the  value  of  the 
house  to  social  welfare,  a  public  opinion  leading  to  a  minimum 


i 


174  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

standard  of  a  house  for  dwelling  purposes  far  above  that  which 
now  prevails.  Every  citizen  should  have  a  judgment  of  the 
minimum  standard  of  a  house  for  health,  decency  and  family  well- 
being,  and  so  form  a  healthy  public  opinion.  Within  a  few  years 
of  this  twentieth  centurj^  much  advance  has  been  made  in  the 
laws  for  tenement  house  building.  By  the  tenement  law  of  1901 
of  New  York  every  room  must  have  light  and  no  window  must  be 
within  twelve  feet  of  the  opposite  window,  and  where  before  26 
families  lived  on  a  lot  in  a  five  story  house  now  but  sixteen 
familnes  could  be  accommodated.  It  is  claimed  the  new  tene- 
ment house  laws  of  1901  and  1902  raised  the  sanitary  condition 
of  the  whole  city  as  seen  by  the  fall  of  the  death  rate  from  20  in 
1000  in  1901  to  18  in  1903;  but  doubtless  there  were  other  causes 
entering  also  into  this  good  result.  The  City  itself  is  beginning 
to  take  such  interest  in  the  homes  of  its  people  that  it  restrains 
the  greed  for  rent  by  the  standard  of  a  dwelling  house.  Much 
still  remains  before  Christian  civilization  will  attain  to  the  policy 
of  the  sociology  of  the  Bible. 

In  the  coming  Kingdom  of  God  comfortable  homes  will  pre- 
vail. The  policy  will  seek  to  secure  a  suitable  house  for  every 
family.  The  great  King  shows  in  the  policy  of  the  Bible  that  He 
has  not  neglected  the  house,  the  dwelling  place  of  the  family. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Environment. 

The  land  where  any  society  lives  may  well  be  called  the 
physical  basis  of  that  society;  the  first  element  we  think  of  is  its 
productiveness,  though  with  this,  really  a  part  of  it,  must  always 
be  considered  its  climate.  If  it  is  a  warm,  fruitful  land,  the  bot- 
tom land  along  some  great  river,  under  sunny  skies,  with  the 
overflow  of  the  river  or  a  regularly  returning  rainy  season  assured, 
it  may  support  quite  a  large  society  without  much  care  or  labor 
on  the  part  of  its  members,  a  society  of  lazy,  luxury  loving  men 
and  women.  It  was  along  such  great  river  plains  that  the  early 
civilizations  arose,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates. 
As  the  population  increased,  the  tilling  the  soil,  the  special  work 
given  by  the  great  Creator  to  man,  the  improving  his  environ- 
ment by  united  action  began,  and  was  with  ever  increasing  force 
carried  on,  and  became  largely  the  basis  of  the  social  order  and  its 
advance.  Such  lands  respond  bountifully  to  such  treatment,  and 
become  the  homes  of  a  rich  luxurious  civilization.  But  reproduc- 
tion outruns  production  and  the  growing  population  of  the  fruit- 
ful land  spreads  up  the  river  to  the  mountains,  sideways  to  the 
hills,  down  the  river  to  the  seas.  Change  of  land  and  change  of 
climate  work  a  change  of  employment  and  mode  of  living  and 
thus  a  vast  change  upon  man  himself  and  his  society.  Native 
enterprise  is  developed,  courage  to  face  danger,  the  unknown,  and 
to  endure  hardship,  perseverance  beckoned  on  by  hope,  taking 
risks,  the  spirit  of  adventure,  all  these  make  the  men  of  the 
mountains  different  in  many  ways  from  the  men  of  the  plains. 
The  man  of  flocks  is  a  different  being  from  the  man  of  the  fruits 
of  the  earth,  and  frequently  there  grows  up  an  antagonism  between 
them  as  in  the  case  of  Cain  and  Abel. 


176  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Productiveness  of  the  land  is  still  a  strong  element,  perhaps  the 
strongest,  but  it  is  not  the  only  element  in  the  physical  basis  of 
society.  A  scant  living  won  by  hardy  toil  makes  different  men 
from  a  bountiful  living  won  with  ease.  To  seek  shade  from  the 
sun  is  a  different  thing  from  seeking  shelter  from  the  wintry 
storm,  and  makes  different  modes  of  living  necessary  not  only  but 
different  kinds  of  races  of  men.  Trade  is  the  exchange  of  the 
products  of  many  lands  and  is  carried  on  by  many  means,  the 
burden  bearing  horses  of  the  hills,  camels  of  the  plains,  boats  of 
the  river,  ships  of  the  sea,  caravans  of  the  desert  and  fleets  of  the 
ocean;  and  varied  classes  and  characters  of  men  are  developed 
by  these  varied  means,  and  trade  becomes  also  an  exchange  of 
ideas  and  characteristics  as  well  as  of  goods.  Man  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  sea  was  at  first  timid,  would  only  sail  his  little  ship 
close  to  the  shore,  and  the  sea  separated  lands,  soon  he  ventured 
beyond  the  horizon,  became  the  daring  sailor  facing  mystery  and 
storm,  and  the  sea  became  the  highway  of  many  lands,  and  the 
man  of  the  sea  became  far  different  than  the  man  of  the  field. 

Still  there  is  much  besides  the  productiveness  of  lands  and  man's 
relation  to  it  in  the  kind  of  country  man  inhabits.  The  land  is 
not  only  a  stony  field  or  a  fruitful  garden,  it  is  a  gallery  of  pic- 
tures, ever  changing  in  lights  and  shadows  and  ever  present  before 
heeding  or  unheeding  eyes,  and  working  its  subtile  effects  upon  the 
more  or  less  sensitive  minds  of  the  succeeding  generations  of  its 
inhabitants.  The  Scotsman  who  takes  off  his  bonnet  every  morn- 
ing to  the  sunrise  on  the  mountains,  and  the  Arab  who  reads  his 
destiny  in  the  silent  stars  passing  over  his  desert  land  are  the 
souls  poets  are  made  of,  and  songs  as  well  as  laws,  idle  musing 
as  well  as  hard  work  have  great  influence  in  moulding  society. 
Then  too  with  the  passage  of  the  years  and  of  many  generations 
the  land  becomes  a  storied  land  and  each  bit  of  shore  or  mountain- 
pass  has  its  tale  of  love  or  daring.  Emerson's  saying,  "where  the 
snow  flies  liberty  flourishes"  takes  in  not  only  the  hardiness  and 
enterprise  of  stern  climates  but  the  defences  of  the  hills  and  the 
grandeur  of  mountain  heights  and  storm  swept  horizons.  Eng- 
land has  fostered  its  enterprise  by  looking  over  its  island  borders 


ENVIRONMENT  177 

to  distant  lands  and  has  made  its  hardy,  liberty  loving  race  by 
conflict  with  cold  and  storm  and  sea.  It  was  the  same  Aryan 
race  that  in  successive  waves  of  emigration  swept  down  from  the 
mountain  fastnesses  of  Central  Asia  upon  the  plains  of  India, 
upon  the  promentories  and  isles  of  Greece,  upon  the  rivers  and 
hills  of  Italy,  upon  the  forests  and  stormswept  shores  of  northern 
Europe,  in  each  case  it  mingled  with  the  original  inhabitants;  but 
the  vast  variety  of  the  civilizations  formed  depends  as  much  per- 
haps upon  the  land  possessed  as  upon  its  original  inhabitants,  and 
much  of  both  the  likeness  and  the  unlikeness  of  India,  Greece, 
Rome  and  England  is  due  to  both  heredity  and  environment. 

A  thoughtful  gaze  upon  the  map  of  the  world  will  endow  any- 
one with  the  spirit  of  reasonable  prediction.  The  old  world  and 
the  new  one  are  widely  contrasted  in  several  respects.  The  three 
continents  of  the  old  world  are  massed  together  at  the  center. 
The  two  continents  of  the  new  world  are  stretched  out  length- 
wise upon  the  globe  from  north  to  south.  The  great  mountains 
of  the  continents  of  the  old  world  are  massed  in  their  centers. 
The  great  mountains  of  the  two  continents  of  the  new  world  are 
a  long  range  stretched  along  the  western  border  the  whole  distance 
from  north  to  south.  The  great  plains  of  the  old  world  run  in 
various  directions  sloping  down  from  the  central  mountains  and 
some  of  them  to  the  cold  north  are  not  well  watered,  and  some 
are  vast  deserts  that  we  suppose  can  never  be  irrigated  with  flow- 
ing waters.  The  great  plains  of  the  new  world  fall  from  the 
western  mountain  range  toward  the  East,  facing  the  sun,  there 
are  a  few  deserts  between  mountain  ranges  and  bordering  great 
plains,  but  they  are  capable  of  easy  irrigation.  In  the  center  of 
the  long  stretched  out  new  world  and  in  the  tropical  region  there 
is  a  great  opening,  the  Carribean  sea  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
As  the  earth  revolves  from  west  to  east,  there  arise  the  trade 
winds  along  its  broad  belt  and  over  its  wide  tropical  ocean,  winds 
blowing  steadily  westward  and  heavily  laden  with  moisture.  These 
blow  into  the  great  opening  at  the  center  of  the  new  world, 
strike  against  the  western  range  of  high  mountains  and  turn  to 
the  north  and   to  the  south   and  pour  out  their  great  riches  of 


178  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

moisture  upon  the  great  inland  plains,  and  the  mighty  rivers,  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Amazon  carry  back  the  waters  to  the  sea, 
while  all  along  the  eastern  coasts  the  winds  from  the  ocean, 
warmed  by  the  gulf  stream  and  bearing  moisutre  distribute  their 
enriching  gifts  unchecked  by  high  mountains,  and  make  a  very 
fruitful  land.  From  careful  estimation  and  calculation  it  is  con- 
cluded that  the  new  world  because  of  its  favorable  position  on  the 
globe  can  easily  support  a  population  equal  to  three  times  the 
present  population  of  the  earth,  and  much  exceeding  that  the  old 
world  can  possibly  support. 

Our  own  nation  possesses  the  broad  belt  of  the  northern  con- 
tinent in  the  temperate  zone.  Though  not  quite  as  large  an  area 
it  is  capable  of  supporting  a  population  greater  than  that  of 
Europe.  With  fertile  soil  and  healthful  stimulating  climate,  with 
natural  communication  by  rivers,  lakes  and  oceans  and  by  artificial 
means  in  this  age  of  steam  and  electricity,  with  a  people  rapidly 
becoming  one  race  though  made  of  the  choice  blood  of  many 
races,  with  a  strong  central  government  and  equally  strong  local 
governments  "of  the  people  by  the  people  and  for  the  people", 
many  nations  federated  into  one,  with  the  broadminded  men  of 
wide  plains,  the  strong  men  of  granite  mountains,  the  daring 
men  of  stormy  seas,  the  enterprising  men  of  a  stimulating  winter, 
the  heroic  men  of  a  noble  past,  what  kind  of  a  nation  will  this 
become,  with  universal  education  and  the  Christian  religion,  to 
face  and  influence  the  world  and  to  solve  the  many  great  prob- 
lems of  sociology  as  they  arise  for  her  own  good  and  for  the  good 
of  mankind?  Who  cannot  make  the  reasonable  prediction  that 
one  of  the  chief  seats  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  will  be 
our  own  beloved  land?  Only  we  must  carry  on  the  principles  of 
the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  gathered  around  the  super- 
natural revelation  of  God,  the  principles  of  the  Fatherhood  of 
God,  the  Brotherhood  of  man  and  of  Love  as  the  Law.  A  sel- 
fish, self-seeking  nation,  power  and  luxury  loving,  will  fall  apart 
into  conflicting  sections  or  become  a  curse  to  a  contesting  or  a 
subjugated  world.     Only  a  nation  with  Christ's  spirit  can  bear 


ENVIRONMENT  179 

the  prosperity  and  power  evidently  to  be  ours  and  make  them  a 
blessing   to  the   race. 

But  environment  while  largely  physical  is  by  no  means  only 
that  or  even  mainly  that,  there  is  an  environment  which  is  more 
properly  called  social.  The  individual  is  of  course  a  part  of  it, 
and  largely  subject  to  it.  It  makes  a  wonderful  difference  to  a 
man  whether  he  lives,  either  by  choice  or  of  necessity,  in  China  or 
America,  in  a  large  city  or  in  a  small  village,  on  a  farm  or  in  the 
slums,  or  on  the  avenue.  The  atmosphere  of  the  place  where  he 
lives  is  the  air  he  breathes.  The  sciences  and  arts,  the  treasures 
of  literature,  the  achievements  of  invention,  the  form  and  spirit  of 
government,  the  kind  of  education,  the  accumulation  of  wealth 
and  of  culture,  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people,  the  prevail- 
ing religious  beliefs  and  practices,  all  these  are  a  part  of  the  at- 
mosphere one  breathes,  of  the  environment  in  which  he  dwells, 
and  by  which  he  must  be  largely  influenced.  It  is  also  a  matter  of 
grave  importance  to  a  society,  as  well  as  to  an  individual,  not  only 
where  it  lives  but  when  it  lives  and  who  are  its  neighbors,  in  what 
land  not  only  but  in  what  age  and  in  what  surrounding  social 
conditions. 

It  is  certainly  a  far  call  from  our  own  land  and  age  to  the  time 
of  Abraham  and  the  east,  to  the  beginning  of  the  particular  society 
of  the  Bible,  and  its  onflowing  development,  but  a  gaze  upon  the 
past  is  often  a  wise  preparation  for  a  look  into  the  future  and  the 
present  is  the  only  pomt  of  view  for  both.  We  must  have  the 
sociological  appreciation  of  environment  in  its  influence  on  social 
development  before  we  can  rightly  estimate  some  of  the  particular 
features  of  the  strange  and  suggestive  history.  We  are  not  to 
conclude  that  because  God  made  a  special  revelation  of  himself 
and  took  a  special  care  of  this  particular  society  that  therefore  it 
was  separated  from  and  independent  of  its  environment.  God 
does  not  throw  away  but  uses  the  forces  he  has  implanted  in  the 
social  nature  of  man.  It  is  always  a  mistake  and  often  a  grave 
one  to  hold  that  the  supernatural  is  antagonistic  to  or  independent 
of  the  natural,  it  never  throws  away  the  natural,  it  adds  to  it, 
builds  upon  it.     God  is  more  immanent,  that  is  all.     God  is  in  all 


i8o  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

society.  God  is  especially  in  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible. 
The  particular  society  of  the  Bible  is  of  course  and  of  necessity, 
because  it  is  a  society,  largely  influenced  by  its  home  land  and  by 
the  society  of  its  neighbors,  and  it  of  course  must  influence  the 
societies  neighboring  to  it,  or  that  may  be  reached  by  it.  What 
influences  from  others  it  shall  welcome,  and  what  influences  upon 
others  it  shall  strive  to  put  forth  will  depend  not  so  much  upon 
the  special  revelation  of  God  made  to  it  as  upon  its  conception 
of  this  revelation,  its  extent  and  its  depth  in  moulding  the  char- 
acter of  the  people.  When  God  covenanted  with  Abraham  to 
make  him  a  blessing  to  all  the  families  of  the  earth,  he  doubtless 
included  the  then  present  and  nearby  neighborhood.  Abraham 
doubtlessly  had  a  glimpse  of  this,  and  it  influenced  him  to  some 
extent,  though  his  main  thought  may  have  been  the  far  ofE  nations 
in  time  and  space.  That  he  did  not  impress  this  glorious  ideal 
upon  his  descendants  with  regard  to  their  nearby  neighbors  during 
the  successive  stages  of  their  history  is  quite  evident;  even  their 
thought  of  the  far  off  blessing  to  all  nations  of  the  earth  seems 
to  have  been  that  they  should  rule  over  them.  There  are  some 
Christians  even  now  who  think  more  of  the  final  triumph  of  Christ 
in  the  ends  of  the  earth,  than  of  his  triumph  today  in  the  social 
conditions  of  their  own  town.  It  is  with  us  as  of  old  not  so  much 
the  full  revelation  of  God  in  Christ,  as  our  conception  of  Christ 
that  moulds  character  and  social  conditions. 

The  particular  Society  of  the  Bible  had  three  homelands,  and 
then  became  scattered  over  the  earth.  Its  ancestral  home  was  the 
valley  of  the  Euphrates,  the  seat  of  probably  the  earliest  civiliza- 
tion of  the  world.  Eber  the  son  of  Shem  and  the  father  of  the 
Hebrews  lived  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  From  this  land  long  after- 
wards Terah  emigrated  to  Haran,  and  from  Haran  Abraham 
emigrated  to  Canaan.  Many  ages  afterwards  thousands  of  selected 
men  and  women  from  the  best  of  the  nation  descended  from  these 
fathers,  were  carried  captive  back  to  the  land  of  their  original 
ancestry.  The  valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  and  the 
broad  plains  between  were  during  all  these  intervening  years  the 


ENVIRONMENT  i8i 

home  of  a  powerful  and  luxury  loving  people,  the  home  of  a  rich 
civilization,  the  great  empires  of  Babylon  and  Assyria. 

While  the  family  of  this  early  emigration  was  growing  into  a 
tribe  and  nation,  the  people  sojourned  in  Egypt,  their  second  home 
land  for  several  generations.  The  valley  of  the  Nile  was  the  seat 
of  the  next  earliest  civilization.  It  was  a  long  but  narrow  valley 
cut  out  of  the  surrounding  desert  by  the  river,  the  bottom  land 
between  the  bordering  bluffs  was  only  about  ten  miles  wide,  but  it 
was  rendered  very  fruitful  by  the  annual  inundation  of  the  river 
and  was  canopied  by  a  warm  and  almost  cloudless  sky.  The 
emigration  from  Ur  was  when  the  civilization  there  was  already 
well  begun,  when  conditions  favoring  restlessness  were  already 
reached,  and  the  entrance  and  sojourn  in  Egypt  was  when  the 
civilization  there  was  already  well  established.  These  were  early 
days,  but  they  were  by  no  means  primitive  days.  We  have  several 
glimpses  given  us  of  the  social  condition  of  Egypt  in  the  stories  of 
Abraham,  and  especially  of  Joseph.  The  government  of  Pharoah 
and  his  princes  was  arbitrary  and  powerful,  they  loved  luxury 
and  pleasure  and  gratified  their  desires  without  much  regard  for  the 
rights  of  others.  Abraham  was  right  in  fearing  the  laws  of  hos- 
pitality would  not  guard  his  life  if  lust  made  it  advisable  to  get  a 
jealous  husband  out  of  the  way,  though  his  way  of  protecting 
himself  savored  more  of  the  morals  of  his  ancestral  home  than  of 
his  new  knowledge  of  and  relation  to  God.  The  condition  of 
society  in  that  early  day  made  it  easy  to  sell  Joseph  as  a  slave, 
easy  to  throw  him  into  prison  without  trial,  and  to  keep  him  there 
an  interminable  time,  easy  to  advance  him  to  the  place  next  to  the 
throne.  There  were  great  cities,  there  were  palaces  and  temples, 
there  were  orders  of  nobility,  grades  among  the  people,  much  pros- 
perity, and  back  of  all  was  the  source  of  prosperity,  the  fruitful 
fields  of  the  rich  valley,  making  it  a  resort  from  other  and  less 
favored  lands  in  times  of  famine.  After  the  administration  of 
Joseph  the  people  of  the  land  were  mere  serfs  of  the  soil,  both 
they  and  their  land  belonged  to  Pharoah ;  but  the  story  gives  hints 
that  their  condition  was  not  much  better  before,  their  property  and 
their  lives  were  in  the  hands  of  an  arbitrary  king.   Joseph's  policy 


i82  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

had  saved  the  lives  of  the  people  at  the  cost  of  fastening  these 
chains  on  succeeding  generations,  the  salvation  was  from  God,  but 
the  chains  were  from  Joseph  in  yielding  himself  to  the  atmosphere 
in  which  he  lived,  the  social  environment  of  Egypt,  and  cannot 
be  attributed  at  all  to  the  teaching  or  revelation  of  God.  In  point 
of  poetic  justice  the  Pharoah  who  knew  not  Joseph  simply  turned 
the  arbitrary  power  Joseph  had  confirmed  upon  him,  in  still 
greater  severity  upon  his  kindred,  and  made  them  slaves  of  a  very 
bitter   slavery. 

The  third  home-land,  the  only  home-land  of  the  people  as  a 
nation,  was  Palestine.  It  was  a  far  different  land  from  that  of 
their  ancestors,  and  from  that  of  their  sojourn.  The  great  civiliza- 
tions of  the  great  river  basins  still  had  these  seats  of  empire,  the 
new  land  was  a  land  of  hills  and  mountains  along  the  great  sea, 
a  land  specially  favorable  to  become  the  home  of  a  great  civiliza- 
tion, and  to  reach  out  and  influence  many  nations.  The  great 
desert  extended  to  the  east  its  many  leagues  of  almost  impassable 
sand,  and  thus  became  a  barrier  between  the  world  civilizations 
of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile.  This  desert  at  its  western  border 
wrinkled  up  against  the  great  sea  into  high  table  lands,  great 
mountains  and  narrow  plains  along  the  edge  of  the  sea.  It  was  a 
very  fruitful  land,  watered  by  the  rains  and  the  dews  of  heaven 
arising  from  the  nearby  sea.  It  was  a  sunny  land,  the  clear 
Syrian  skies  bending  over  it.  It  was  a  land  of  great  variety  of 
climate,  its  cool  mountains  and  snow  clad  Lebanon  and  Hermon 
tempering  the  air,  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  a  torrid  clime,  the  plains 
and  hills  bordering  the  sea  a  temperate  clime.  It  was  a  beautiful 
land  with  much  mountain  grandeur,  with  broad  outlooks,  with 
pleasant  plains  and  valleys  and  lakes.  It  was  both  a  secluded  land 
and  a  thoroughfare.  It  was  as  secluded  as  those  dwelling  upon 
the  hills  and  mountains  a  little  way  from  the  sea  and  upon  the 
eastern  table  lands,  would  choose  to  make  it.  There  they  could 
peacefully  work  out  their  own  social  problems  and  attain  to  their 
social  destiny  without  much  danger  of  being  intruded  upon  by 
very  powerful  rivals  or  foes.  Jerusalem  has  become  one  of  the 
world's  most  influential  cities;  but  unlike  all  other  world  capitals 


ENVIRONMENT  i8s 

it  is  situated  on  a  mountain  and  far  removed  from  river,  lake  or 
sea,  on  no  thoroughfare  of  commerce  or  travel,  alone,  by  itself, 
remote,  secluded. 

But  the  land  is  also  a  thoroughfare.  The  great  civilization  of 
the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile,  the  great  world  empires  of  Assyria 
and  Egypt,  the  great  capitals  Babylon  and  Ninevah  to  the  north- 
east, Thebes  and  Memphis  to  the  southwest,  could  only  hold  com- 
munication with  each  other,  could  only  influence  each  other  by 
passing  along  the  plains  of  this  land  near  the  sea.  The  sea  itself 
could  not  be  a  means  of  communication,  it  was  too  far  away  from 
the  valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris.  The  land  between 
the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile  could  not  be  the  basis  of  lines  of 
travel,  it  was  the  desert  impassable  but  to  a  few  hardy  adventurers. 
One  of  the  famous  rides  of  history  is  that  of  Nebuchadnessar 
and  a  few  attendants  in  a  straight  course  from  Jerusalem  to  Baby- 
Ion,  to  reach  the  bed-side  of  his  father  who  was  reported  to  be 
dying,  filial  affection  and  grave  reasons  of  state  led  to  the  daring 
deed.  But  all  communication  on  any  large  scale  between  the  two 
great  world  civilizations  could  only  be  had  by  passing  along  the 
plains  and  under  the  shadows  of  the  mountains  of  Judea.  Here 
the  caravans  carrying  the  rich  commerce  of  the  east,  here  the  great 
embassies  of  power  and  ceremony,  and  pleasure,  here  the  great 
armies,  the  pomp  and  splendor  of  war  passed  to  and  fro  between 
the  rival  civilizations  of  luxury  and  power,  and  under  the  grace 
and  influence  of  the  growing  civilization  of  righteousness.  It  was 
secluded  enough  for  the  undisturbed  development  of  the  particular 
society'  of  the  Bible,  and  it  was  thoroughfare  enough  for  this 
society  to  exercise  its  missionary  calling,  giving  the  supernatural 
relation  of  God  entrusted  to  it  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and 
commending  to  them  the  society  of  brothers  under  the  govern- 
ment of  God,  their  Father.  The  mountains  of  Judea  were  the 
pulpit  of  the  world.  This  was  not  so  only  at  the  beginning  of 
the  national  life,  but  during  all  its  continuance  and  especially  so 
at  its  close.  In  the  time  of  Christ  the  world  empires  had 
changed.  Babylon  and  the  east  were  still  seats  of  high  civilization. 
Egypt  and   the  north  of  Africa  still   flourished;    but  the  world 

18 


i84  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

empire  of  culture  was  Greece,  the  world  empire  of  power  was 
Rome;  and  the  very  center  of  the  civilized  world,  in  the  high- 
est age  of  its  civilization,  the  Augustan  age,  was  the  city  of 
Jerusalem,  the  Roman  province  of  Palestine,  the  home  of  Christ; 
still  the  pulpit  of  the  world. 

We  have  several  glimpses  of  the  social  condition  prevailing 
among  the  original  inhabitants  of  this  land  when  Abraham,  the 
emigrant  from  the  Euphrates  valley,  settled  in  it.  It  was  not  a 
crowded  land,  there  were  still  many  vacant  spaces,  and  Abraham 
seems  to  have  been  not  so  much  tolerated  as  welcomed  as  a  new 
and  valuable  settler.  The  laws  of  eastern  hospitality  find  several 
fine  instances  of  their  varied  working.  Profuse  politeness  seems  to 
have  been  the  accompaniment  of  sharp  bargaining  even  in  the  early 
day,  the  generous  offering  being  the  introduction  to  a  price  not 
to  be  refused,  and  the  children  of  Heth  conveyed  land  by  deed 
for  a  goodly  number  of  shekels,  the  whole  transaction  indicating  a 
stable  condition  of  society.  There  were  many  small  cities  and 
petty  kingdoms,  a  few  of  them  rising  to  considerable  prominence, 
the  more  powerful  and  luxurious  they  became  the  more  corrupt 
were  their  morals,  and  the  more  arbitrary  the  power  of  their 
kings.  Again  as  in  Egypt  Abraham  feared  for  his  life  on  account 
of  the  attractiveness  of  his  wife ;  and  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  the 
cities  of  the  rich  plain,  are  instances  of  almost  inconceivable  moral 
corruption.  We  have  the  first  instance  of  organized  warfare  in 
the  battle  of  the  four  kings  against  five;  the  cause  of  the  war 
does  not  seem  clear  but  the  usual  plunder  followed.  Abraham 
appears  in  a  new  character,  that  of  a  military  chieftain,  he  makes 
a  well  planned  night  attack  upon  the  plunder  laden  victors, 
defeats  them,  rescues  his  brother  and  recovers  the  spoil.  This 
earliest  bit  of  warfare  of  the  Hebrews  shows  them  as  regarding  it 
as  the  service  of  God,  in  rescuing  the  oppressed  and  in  refusing  to 
receive  any  personal  benefit  from  it. 

Several  centuries  pass  before  the  Hebrews  take  possession  of  this 
land  as  their  own.  They  have  sojourned  in  Egypt  and  have  been 
welded  together  by  its  hard  slavery,  they  have  been  trained  in 
the  wilderness  so   that  entering   it  a  mob  of   freed   slaves,   they 


ENVIRONMENT  185 

come  out  of  it  a  well  ordered  people,  each  tribe  having  its  own 
organization  of  thousands  and  hundreds  and  fifties  under  elected 
leaders,  and  each  tribe  knowing  its  own  place  in  the  whole  organ- 
ization under  the  great  leaders,  Moses  and  Joshua.  During  these 
centuries  the  Canaanites  have  advanced  also  in  numbers  and  power, 
but  have  become  more  corrupt,  until,  as  the  Scriptures  describe, 
their  cup  of  iniquity  was  full.  The  Hebrew  nation,  a  well  organ- 
ized army  takes  possession  of  this  land,  regarding  themselves  as  the 
executioners  of  God's  justice,  that  He  deprives  the  original  inhab- 
itants of  it  as  unworthy  any  longer  to  hold  it  and  gives  it  to  them 
as  their  home  land,  for  a  perpetual  possession,  while  they  remain 
worthy  of  it.  That  they  regarded  themselves  as  the  executioners 
of  the  divine  justice  is  evident,  that  they  thought  God  ordered 
them  to  exterminate  the  Canaanites  seems  clear;  how  far  they 
were  justified  in  this  latter  view  may  be  an  open  question.  It  is 
certain  they  did  not  exterminate  them,  that  they  made  treaties 
with  some  of  them  and  felt  equally  called  of  God  to  keep  them. 
So  in  reality  their  taking  possession  of  Canaan  was  very  much 
like  the  Normans  taking  possession  of  England,  they  were  intru- 
ders, and  in  the  long  process  absorbers,  rather  than  exterminators. 
From  this  time  on  through  the  Bible  history  the  land  of  Judea  is 
the  physical  basis  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  and  is  its 
immediate  environment,  while  its  more  general  environment  is  the 
civilization  of  the  ages  through  which  its  history  flows,  the  neigh- 
boring nations  and  empires  as  they  touch  and  influence  it. 

The  moral  questions  arising  from  the  subjugation  of  one  race 
by  another,  of  the  inundation  of  an  already  inhabited  land  by  a 
new  and  more  powerful  people,  have  already  been  considered. 
This  experience  is  a  very  familiar  one  in  the  development  of  the 
general  society  of  the  race,  and  is  an  element  in  the  growth  of 
several  prominent  civilizations  in  history.  It  is  not  therefore  to 
be  marveled  at  that  God  who  uses  it  in  the  general  advance  of 
society  should  have  employed  it  in  the  care  of  the  particular 
society  of   the   Bible. 

We  cannot  tell  of  course  what  might  have  been  if  the  Indians 
had  been  left  in  undisputed  possession  of  the  new  world,  but  it 


i86  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

is  not  likely  that  anything  very  valuable  to  mankind  would  have 
resulted.  We  regard  God  as  having  given  this  nevi^  w^orld  to  us; 
that  does  not  involve  His  approval  of  all  our  actions  in  the  mat- 
ter, but  it  does  appeal  to  us  to  use  our  possession  for  the  good  of 
the  race.  We  cannot  tell  of  course  what  might  have  been,  but 
it  is  not  probable  that  the  Canaanites  would  ever  have  rendered 
any  important  service  to  mankind,  they  certainly  never  did,  and 
they  gave  no  promise  of  ever  doing  so.  On  the  contrary  the 
Hebrews  have  contributed  many  elements  of  highest  value  to  the 
uplift  of  the  race. 

The  land  itself  and  its  new  inhabitants  seemed  well  adapted  to 
each  other.  The  land  attained  greater  fruitfulness,  a  richer  pros- 
perity under  the  Hebrews  than  there  is  any  record  of  its  ever 
attaining  before  or  since.  It  is  now  in  the  hands  of  races  kindred 
to  the  Canaanites,  but  it  has  become  impoverished,  taxed  and 
stripped  of  its  wealth,  even  the  land  itself  contributes  nothing 
today  to  the  welfare  of  the  world.  Perhaps  it  is  only  resting,  the 
long  Sabbath  of  the  land.  There  are  many  students  of  the  scrip- 
tures who  interpret  some  of  its  predictions  that  the  Jews  will  be 
restored  to  their  land  and  the  Zionists  are  laboring  to  that  end. 
The  land  is  still  beautiful  for  situation  and  still  of  rich  promise. 
Some  great  dreamer  may  one  day  cut  a  canal  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  sea  of  Galilee  and  make  an  inland  sea  of  the  great 
depression  of  the  Jordan  valley  to  the  gulf  of  Akaba  and  the 
Indian  Ocean,  and  then  the  land  will  be  not  only  beautitful  and 
fruitful,  but  a  central  land  once  more  and  on  the  great  highway 
of  the  world's  commerce,  once  more  the  seat  of  a  great  civiliza- 
tion. 

The  influence  of  the  land  on  the  character  of  the  people  is 
seen  of  course  in  their  literature.  The  outlook  of  the  books  of 
Moses,  that  indefinable  something  in  literature,  the  atmosphere 
in  which  its  writers  live,  the  scenes  upon  which  they  look,  is 
largely  of  the  rich  valley  and  the  desert.  The  remaining  books  of 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  New 
Testament  belong  to  Palestine,  were  created  there,  breathe  its  air, 
look  out  upon  its  scenes.     The  history  is  of  a  mountainous  land. 


ENVIRONMENT  187 

with  narrow  ravines,  rushing  streams,  small  lakes,  lofty  heights 
and  fruitful  plains.  The  poetry  is  largely  lyric,  the  poet  describes 
the  feelings  that  lie  back  of  all  action  living  in  the  breasts  of  the 
actors,  especially  their  feelings  towards  God ;  he  looks  up  into  the 
face  of  God  and  sings,  but  he  looks  out  upon  a  beautiful  and  fruit- 
ful land,  a  land  of  mountains  and  plains,  of  rivers,  lakes  and  seas. 
The  orators  are  preachers  of  righteousness,  according  to  the  de- 
mands of  various  circumstances;  the  application  varies  but  the 
righteousness  itself  is  unchangeable,  it  is  like  the  great  mountains, 
lights  and  shadows  pass  over  them,  storm  sweeps  or  calm  broods 
upon  them,  but  the  mountains  remain  steadfast  forever. 

The  character  of  the  people  in  any  particular  period  is  very 
largely  a  matter  of  heredity,  but  heredity  we  see  is  the  sum  of  the 
changes  made  by  passing  environments,  not  only  the  physical  en- 
vironment as  it  is  met  in  valley,  desert  or  mountains,  but  the  social 
environment  as  well ;  in  the  views  man  holds  of  nature  and  of 
God,  in  the  manners,  customs  and  laws  of  the  people,  in  the  large 
influence  of  one  man  upon  another,  of  one  form  of  society  upon 
another.  It  is  a  marked  feature  of  the  particular  society  of  the 
Bible  from  its  beginning,  through  its  long  history  until  it  flows 
out  into  the  race  of  mankind  to  mingle  with  and  mould  the 
whole  race,  that  it  is  linked  with  many  lands  and  climes  with 
many  ages  and  peoples  a  society  for  the  whole  race  and  from  the 
whole  race.  The  peculiar  people  for  a  long  time  forgot  their  mis- 
sionary calling,  and  have  forgotten  it  now,  still  it  is  in  the  charac- 
ter of  their  existence;  and  it  is  the  life  blood  of  the  society  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  whose  sole  mission  is  to  bring  the  Kingdom  of 
God  into  all  lands  and  climes  for  the  whole  race.  The  three 
homes  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  both  in  the  physical 
and  in  the  social  sense,  the  ancestral  home,  the  sojourning  home, 
and  the  home  land  have  accumulated  their  environment  force  by 
the  force  of  heredity,  and  each  period  of  their  history  shows  us  the 
great  value  of  these  forces  in  the  moulding  of  individuals  and  the 
structure  of  society. 

With  reference  especially  to  the  force  of  environment  the  Bible 
has  three  distinct  and  significant  classes  of  instances.     The  first 


K 


i88  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

class  embraces  many  striking  incidents  of  individuals  and  societies 
successfully  resisting  very  bad  environments.  In  heredity  there 
were  very  many  instances  of  individuals  overcoming  evil  tenden- 
cies; no  one  need  be  a  slave  to  his  dead  grand-father.  So  here  no 
one  need  be  a  victim  of  circumstances.  This  is  particularly  true  if 
heredity  is  on  his  side.  It  is  a  much  more  difficult  thing  for  an 
individual  to  fight  successfully  against  both  a  bad  heredity  and  a 
bad  environment,  evil  grand-fathers  and  adverse  circumstances 
make  a  bad  combination,  but  here  also  many  instances  of  victory 
are  recorded.  The  grace  of  God  wearies  not  with  passing  ages ;  it 
can  in  modern  times,  as  of  old,  enable  a  Jerry  McCauley  to  put 
his  foot  upon  both  bad  heredity  and  evil  environment  and  stand 
upright  in  his  manhood.  So  the  grace  of  God  can  enable  a  Hadley 
to  overcome,  but  the  blood  of  the  Edwards  in  Hadley's  veins  tells, 
and  that  manhood  coming  up  out  of  the  gutter  is  of  a  loftier  kind. 
Some  of  the  loftiest  characters  of  the  Bible  are  men  who  lived 
their  heroic  lives  in  bad  environments  who  fought  against  adverse 
circumstances. 
^_  Joseph,  the  slave  boy  of  good  parentage,  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  long  and  noble  life  in  the  surroundings  of  a  heathen  civiliza- 
tion, among  a  race  of  gross  idolaters.  He  was  not  crushed  by  the 
hardships,  he  was  not  charmed  by  the  greatest  prosperity,  he  was 
not  swayed  from  his  faith  by  prevailing  customs  and  beliefs. 
Whether  as  prisoner  or  as  prime  minister,  he  held  fast  his  faith 
in  God.  He  faithfully  attributed  his  superior  knowledge  to  the 
gift  of  God.  Pharoah  said:  "Can  we  find  such  a  one  as  this, 
in  whom  the  spirit  of  God  is?"  when  he  placed  him  next  to  the 
throne,  gave  him  the  second  place  in  Egypt.  He  discharged  his 
lofty  duties  as  the  servant  of  the  most  high  God.  He  told  his 
brothers,  "God  sent  me  before  you  to  preserve  life".  He  sent 
word  to  his  father  "Come  to  me  for  God  hath  made  me  Lord  of  all 
Egypt".  When  he  came  to  die  after  a  long  life,  and  still  in  great 
power  and  honor,  he  exhorted  to  faith  in  the  God  who  revealed 
himself  to  Abraham,  assured  his  brethren  of  God's  faithfulness  to 
His  covenant  promises  and  directed  that  he  should  not  be  buried 
in  Egypt.    Through  the  long  days  of  the  dark  slavery  the  coffin  of 


ENVIRONMENT  189 

Joseph  their  great  leader  preached  with  silent  eloquence  of  his 
great  faith  in  God,  and  of  the  coming  deliverance. 

Moses  also  lived  the  first  forty  years  of  his  life  in  an  environ- 
ment of  idolatry,  in  the  palace  and  the  court  of  a  heathen  civiliza- 
tion, but  free  from  all  its  corrupting  taint,  as  the  writer  to  the 
Hebrews  describes  him  "he  accounted  the  reproach  of  Christ 
greater  riches  than  all  the  treasures  of  Egypt." 

Daniel,  carried  when  a  boy,  by  his  triumphant  foes  a  captive  into 
Babylon  was  brought  up  in  the  court  of  that  great  world  empire, 
by  his  great  ability  he  became  prime  minister  under  successive 
dynasties  and  spent  a  long  life  in  honor  and  power  in  the  world's 
capital.  The  whole  civilization  was  idolatrous;  it  seemed  to  have 
swept  the  worship  of  the  one  true  God  from  the  face  of  the  earth, 
to  be  established  beyond  question,  to  hold  sway  without  opposition. 
Still  in  this  triumphant  idolatry  Daniel  was  openly  and  at  all 
times  the  avowed  believer  and  servant  of  the  God  of  Israel.  These 
individuals  do  not  seem  to  have  been  sustained  by  association  with 
kindred  societies,  the  first  two,  not  at  all;  in  the  case  of  Daniel, 
he  at  first  had  associates,  but  soon  it  became  an  isolation  of  great- 
ness.        -"^  ,  ■ 

tJut  the  cases  of  associated  resistance  to  evil  envirpnment  are 
also  many.  The  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt  did  not  adopt  the  re- 
ligion of  their  oppressors.  When  they  were  carried  captives  into 
Babylon  many  remained  true  to  their  faith  through  the  long  cap- 
tivity, though  doubtless  there  were  many  who  adopted  the  religion 
and  the  customs  and  made  the  Euphrates  valley  their  permanent 
home.  The  exodus  from  Egypt  was  of  a  nation  bound  together 
by  the  hard  slavery,  and  their  faith  in  God.  They  received  also 
special  revelations  from  God  and  special  help  in  their  deliverance 
from  Egypt,  and  were  guided  and  guarded  by  the  manifest  pres- 
ence of  God  and  so  given  the  possession  of  the  promised  land. 
The  return  from  the  captivity  from  Babylon  was  a  marked  con- 
trast. A  few  thousand  volunteers  through  their  faith  in  God, 
marched  wearily  along  the  edge  of  the  desert  under  the  protection 
of  a  heathen  emperor  with  no  special  manifestation  of  God's  pres- 
ence and  at  length  reached  thir  home  land  to  find  they  were  un- 


I90  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

welcome  intruders,  still  needing  the  protection  of  the  heathen  world 
power.  The  whole  environment  was  unfavorable,  but  the  faith 
of  the  people  flourished  in  it. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  first  Christian  church  gathered  in  a 
heathen  city,  it  existed  in  an  unfavorable  environment.  It  taxes 
our  imagination  to  faintly  realize  the  unfavorable  environment  of 
the  first  church  in  Corinth,  for  example.  When  Paul  wrote  his 
first  Epistle  to  that  Church  it  probably  did  not  number  five  hun- 
dred members,  and  it  lived  in  a  city  of  five  hundred  thousand 
people.  Gross  idolatry,  and  licentiousness  prevailed,  Corinthian 
manners  and  Corinthian  morals  embraced  falseness  and  vice,  ap- 
proved as  culture.  In  this  environment  Paul  called  for  Christian 
manners  and  Christian  morals,  lifted  a  lofty  standard,  and  found 
much  to  commend  in  the  attainment  of  the  Church  in  those  bad 
surroundings. 
^  This  first  and  large  class  of  Bible  incidents  shows  that  while 
^  environment  is  a  powerful  influence  over  both  individuals  and  so- 
cieties that  the  grace  of  God  and  the  power  of  the  human  will 
combined  can  triumph  over  it.  When  in  the  providence  of  God 
and  at  the  call  of  duty  the  individual  or  the  society  lives  in  a  bad 
environment  all  the  brighter  may  shine  the  Christian  virtues  and 
influences. 

The  second  class  of  Bible  incidents  on  this  subject  shows  God 
calling  man  out  of  a  bad  environment  into  a  good  one.  He  called 
Abraham  from  his  kindred  to  wander  in  a  strange  land.  He 
called  the  children  of  Israel  from  Egyptian  slavery  to  dwell  in 
their  own  land.  He  called  the  captives  of  Babylon  back  to  their 
native  land.  He  called  Matthew  from  the  seat  of  Customs  to 
the  College  of  the  Disciples.  He  called  Paul  from  fanatical 
associates  and  power  to  be  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  These  are 
but  a  few  of  the  many  incidents  of  this  class.  In  all  cases  the  call 
of  God  must  reach  and  arouse  the  will  of  man,  and  then  generally 
the  struggle  is  severe  to  break  away  from  the  old  life  and  its 
chains  and  charms,  to  try  a  new,  difficult  and  often  dangerous  life. 
The  third  class  of  Bible  incidents  on  this  subject  is  by  far  the 
largest  and  most  important  of  the  three;    the  other  two  are  often 


ENVIRONMENT  191 

involved  in  it  and  lead  up  to  it.  It  is  the  changing  of  a  bad 
environment  into  a  good  one.  Abraham  was  called  out  of  a  bad 
environment,  out  of  idolatry — not  for  himself  alone,  but  to  be  a 
blessing  to  all  nations,  not  simply  to  be  free  from  idolatry  him- 
self but  to  free  all  men  from  idolatry,  not  simply  from  a  bad 
environment  but  to  make  a  good  environment  where  the  knowl- 
edge and  worship  of  God  should  flourish.  In  proportion  as  he 
was  true  to  his  calling  this  work  of  changing  a  bad  environment 
into  a  good  one  began  at  once  and  continued  through  his  whole 
life.  So  with  Daniel,  he  resisted  the  bad  environment  success- 
fully, but  his  faithful  resistance  must  have  had  a  large  influence 
on  many  others  and  a  general  influence  of  which  there  are  many 
glimpses  given,  leading  to  the  honoring  of  the  true  God  in  a 
heathen  land.  So  with  the  Church  in  Corinth,  it  was  largely  for 
the  sake  of  Corinth  that  the  Church  was  there,  and  its  spreading 
influence  had  some  efifect  not  only  on  many  individuals  but  upon 
the  city  itself  and  upon  Greece. 

Matthew  and  Paul  were  called  from  bad  environment  to  a  good 
one  but  not  only  or  mainly  for  themselves,  they  began  at  once 
and  continued  their  lives  long,  wherever  they  journeyed,  the 
changing  of  bad  environment  into  a  good  one.  The  Christian  civ- 
ilization we  enjoy  today  is  a  changed  environment  wrought  by 
such  lives  as  Paul,  by  such  societies  as  the  Church  in  Corinth. 
There  are  many  lives  of  influence  starting  from  the  Bible  whose 
aim  is  to  change  a  bad  environment  into  a  good  one. 

Every  missionary  going  into  the  darkness  of  heathen  lands  and 
every  Christian  merchant  and  traveler  as  well,  are  carrying  on  this 
Bible  work,  not  merely  to  win  here  and  there  a  soul  for  Christ, 
but  through  those  souls  and  their  successors  in  many  generations 
to  change  the  entire  environment  from  heathen  to  Christian, 
to  form  in  all  lands  a  Christian  civilization.  Every  University 
and  church  settlement  in  the  slums  of  great  cities  brings  learned 
and  Christian  men  and  women  with  their  culture  and  religion  in 
contact  with  the  needy  for  the  uplifting  of  their  lives.  When  pub- 
lic opinion  is  aroused  by  wretched  tenement  house  conditions  and 
demands  and  enforces  laws  checking  and  changing  such  into  far 


iga  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

better  conditions,  it  is  the  carrying  out  of  the  same  principles. 
When  going  beyond  settlement  workers  and  tenement  house  laws 
social  conditions  include  just  wages,  reasonable  rents,  and  fair 
prices,  when  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  between  employers  and 
employees,  landlords  and  tenants,  storekeepers  and  customers  shall 
prevail  it  will  be  simply  the  changing  of  bad  into  good  environ- 
ment by  carrying  the  golden  rule  into  practice  in  all  the  relations 
of  life,  by  the  spreading  power  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  That 
crowded  block  of  wretchedness  in  New  York  City  which  has  won 
the  hideous  name  of  Hell's  Kitchen  will  disappear  long  before  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  takes  full  possession  of  the  City.  The  chang- 
ing of  a  bad  heredity  and  a  bad  environment  into  good  ones  is 
the  mission  of  the  Church  in  establishing  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Good  parentage  and  a  good  neighborhood  are  the  aim  of  the  grace 
of  God  in  the  revelation  of  Himself,  and  of  His  dealings  with  his 
people.  They  may  not  insure  the  new  birth  but  are  very  favorable 
conditions  for  it,  they  give  large  promise  of  the  permanency  and 
triumph  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  godly  inheritance  is  not 
only  of  tendency  of  character  by  heredity  but  of  favorable  sur- 
roundings in  moulding  character  by  a  good  environment. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Land  Laws  of  the  Hebrews. 

Since  the  country  in  which  any  society  dwells  is  the  physical 
basis  of  that  society,  it  follows  that  the  distribution  of  the  land 
among  the  people  is  one  of  the  most  important  elements  of  their 
welfare.  The  fertility  of  the  land,  together  with  rivers,  coasts 
and  other  means  of  communication,  limit  the  extent  of  the  popu- 
lation, determine  largely  their  employments,  affect  race  character- 
istics and  mould  the  form  of  government.  The  land  that  does 
not  produce  food  enough  to  support  its  own  population  must  be  in 
such  communication  with  other  lands  that  this  deficiency  is  met  in 
exchange  for  the  service  its  people  render.  Even  the  manufactur- 
ing or  commercial  nation  generally  has  the  basis  of  its  food  supply 
in  its  own  land.  Beyond  the  question  of  food  in  these  modern 
days  is  the  supply  of  coal  and  iron,  the  nearness  and  abundance 
of  these  staples  of  our  civilization  are  of  utmost  importance  to 
the  welfare  of  society.  The  coming  power  to  move  machinery 
promises  to  be  electricity,  even  then  the  running  water  of  the 
country  is  needed  to  turn  the  dynamo,  and  its  copper  to  convey 
the  force  to  the  place  of  its  action.  The  many  means  of  communi- 
cation have  brought  the  fruits  and  grains  of  all  lands  to  the  table 
of  each,  and  clothe  and  shelter  the  people  of  each  nation  with  the 
materials  grown  in  all  climes.  This  is  only  extending  the  princi- 
ple that  the  earth  itself  is  the  physical  basis  of  society  of  the  race, 
and  makes  more  clear  the  truth  that  the  distribution  of  the  land 
among  the  people  is  one  of  the  most  important  elements  of  their 
welfare.  The  national  problem  of  each  country  becomes  the  race 
problem  of  the  world.  The  fair  and  fruitful  earth  is  itself  the 
home  of  the  race  of  mankind,  it  provides  the  food,  the  clothing, 
the  shelter  of  the  race. 


194  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

r\  How  shall  the  land  be  divided  among  the  people  is  the  problem. 
Who  has  the  right  to  the  land?  Some  students  of  sociology  claim 
that  man's  right  to  the  land  can  only  be  general,  never  individualj 
it  is  like  his  right  to  air  and  water.  Land,  water,  air  belong  to  the 
race  and  for  any  individual  to  claim  and  exercise  an  exclusive  right 
to  either  is  a  wrong  to  the  whole  race.  But  there  is  certainly  this 
difiference.  Man  cannot  work  much  change  upon  the  air,  he  may 
pollute  it  but  cannot  improve  it;  there  is  abundance  for  all  to 
breathe  and  generally  of  good  quality.  With  water  it  is  somewhat 
different;  labor  has  frequently  to  be  expended  in  order  to  get  it  of 
sufficient  quantity  and  of  good  quality  for  drinking  purposes  both 
for  man  and  for  his  flocks  and  herds.  One  of  the  frequent  experi- 
ences in  the  early  life  described  in  the  Bible  is  digging  wells. 
Isaac,  the  peaceful  quiet  man,  found  the  Philistines  had  stopped 
the  wells  Abraham  had  digged,  and  when  he  digged  others  they 
contended  time  and  again  for  them,  until  at  length  he  digged  a 
well  for  which  they  strove  not,  and  he  called  that  well,  Broad 
Places,  for  he  had  found  room  in  the  land.  Many  a  time  it  is 
said  "they  digged  a  well  and  builded  an  altar",  the  digging  the 
well  required  associated  effort,  they  had  a  common  right  in  the 
water  they  had  found,  the  gift  of  God  to  them,  the  well  became  a 
gathering  place  for  them  and  there  they  worshipped  the  great 
Giver.  Social  union,  labor  and  worship,  the  three  distinctly 
human  elements  are  often  found  connected  with  wells  of  water. 

With  reference  to  land  it  also  is  unlike  the  air  in  that  it  may  be 
improved.  Uncultivated  land  would  support  but  a  very  small 
population,  and  support  that  population  very  poorly,  several  square 
miles  would  be  needed  to  support  the  savage,  where  a  few  acres 
will  support  a  civilized  family.  The  difference  is  cultivation. 
Now  cultivation  is  a  matter  of  successive  years,  even  of  successive 
generations.  Appliances  for  tilling  the  soil,  drainage,  shelter  for 
herds,  storage  places  for  grain,  means  of  communication,  dwelling 
places  for  man,  all  are  a  part  of  the  way  man  must  fulfill  God's 
commission  given  him  "of  tilling  the  earth  and  subduing  it",  of 
doing  man's  peculiar  work,  changing  his  environment.  By  doing 
this  the  individual  or  family  acquires  some  special   right  to  the 


•:^ 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  195 

land  he  has  cultivated,  which  society  finds  it  to  its  own  general 
interest  to  recognize  and  guard.  Other  students  of  sociology 
while  acknowledging  that  the  one  who  has  improved  the  land  has 
a  right  to  the  land  he  has  improved,  question  his  right  to  values 
beyond  his  own  efforts,  arising  from  the  labors  of  his  neighbors 
and  from  the  general  advance  of  societ)'.  The  large  increment  of 
value  to  many  an  acre  of  land  as  well  as  to  many  a  city  lot  comes 
not  from  the  skill  or  industrj'  of  the  owner  but  from  the  general 
conditions.  Various  schemes  are  devised  to  calculate  and  turn  to 
the  general  wealth  this  unearned  increment  of  the  land. 

Very  many  of  the  perplexing  features  of  the  land  problem  arise 
from  the  fact  that  the  very  complex  social  life  of  today  has  rap- 
idly developed  in  recent  years  from  a  much  more  simple  one,  and 
the  land  laws  are  largely  a  growth  of  precedents  made  by  courts 
of  law  in  the  simple  social  condition.  A  crowded  land,  become 
largely  a  manufacturing  and  commercial  country,  derives  its  land 
laws,  the  distribution  of  land  among  its  people  from  a  simple 
agricultural  state  of  society.  The  accumulation  of  land  by  pur- 
chase and  descent  under  such  laws  with  the  immense  increase  in 
value  from  the  general  conditions  makes  often  a  highly  favored 
class  of  land  owners.  Then  also  the  title  to  land  in  many  countries 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  based  so  much  upon  the  cultivation  and 
improvement  of  the  lands  as  upon  what  may  be  called  the  right  of 
conquest;  and  it  seems  pretty  late  to  undertake  the  solution  of 
it.  The  problem  has  solved  itself,  and  the  generation  now  on  the 
stage  simply  receive  an  established  division,  and  hand  it  down  to 
the  coming  generations.  If  we  undertake  to  formulate  the  prin- 
ciple of  division  in  most  lands  perhaps  this  will  answer, — in 
dividing  the  land,  let  each  individual,  family,  tribe  and  nation  take 
what  it  can  get,  and  hold  what  it  can  keep.  As  society  becomes 
organized  it  establishes  its  real  estate  laws  and  laws  of  descent 
upon  the  principle  of  keeping  up  this  division.  Blackstone  and 
Kent  do  not  base  land  titles  upon  the  holdings  of  the  early 
British  tribes,  and  if  they  did  it  would  be  largely  the  same  thing, 
but  upon  the  division  of  the  land  by  the  Norman  Conquerors. 
The  feudal  principle  was  both  for  offense  and  defense.    The  king 


195  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

granted  land  to  the  great  nobles,  and  the  great  in  their  turn  to  the 
lesser  ones,  on  condition  of  service  to  be  rendered,  and  as  the 
reward  for  military  service  already  given.  The  king  stood  for 
the  state,  for  the  social  organization.  When  this  new  country  was 
settled,  great  grants  of  land  were  given  by  the  king  and  dis- 
tributed in  much  the  same  way. 

When  we  trace  our  titles  back  to  the  original  grants,  we  are 
satisfied  and  secure.  Who  shall  now  raise  the  question,  "What 
right  had  the  king  to  grant?"  If  it  is  raised  in  a  purely  academic 
way,  it  is  at  once  followed  by  the  kindred  one,  "How  should  the 
land  have  been  divided  among  the  original  settlers  and  how  much 
among  how  many?"  If  the  conclusion  is  reached  that  the  grant 
of  a  conquering  king  for  military  service  is  simply  division  of 
plunder  and  an  injustice,  the  grant  of  a  discovered  country  grasped 
from  weak  holders  and  given  for  favoritism  is  wrong,  how  shall 
the  reversal  of  the  original  injustice  and  wrong  be  brought  about 
without  social  upheaval  and  larger  injustice  still.  If  we  go  still 
further  back  and  consider  settlers  moving  into  an  unoccupied 
land,  each  taking  what  he  needs  and  cultivating  it  for  his  family, 
what  right  have  his  descendants  to  hold  his  large  claim  made  when 
there  were  few  in  the  land,  for  their  exclusive  use,  now  that  the 
land  has  become  crowded.  The  withdrawal  of  large  tracts  of 
land  from  cultivation  for  the  pleasure  parks  and  hunting  grounds 
of  wealthy  land  owners,  where  the  land  is  crowded  with  the 
unemployed  and  the  poor,  is  a  marked  feature  of  some  lands  today, 
and  is  growing  in  our  own  land. 

The  advance  in  civilization  of  any  people  is  the  general  advance 
of  society  as  a  whole  and  land  values  greatly  increase  in  such  con- 
ditions making  land  owners  a  favored  class.  This  is  especially 
seen  in  large  cities,  their  favorable  location  for  growth,  the  open- 
ing of  streets,  the  forming  of  means  of  transit  over-head  or  under- 
ground, the  drift  of  business  and  population,  all  the  conveniences 
and  advantages  of  city  life  make  the  land,  worth  a  few  thousand 
dollars  fifty  years  ago,  worth  as  many  millions  today,  and  the 
owner  has  done  nothing  special  to  increase  the  value  he  enjoys. 

The   theory   of   the   United   States   in   distributing   unoccupied 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  197 

land  among  new  settlers  now  for  many  years  Is  that  this  land 
belongs  to  all  the  people  of  the  whole  nation  and  the  distribution 
must  give  each  settler  a  fair  portion  among  others,  and  for  the 
betterment  of  all  the  people. 

The  homestead  laws  give  to  each  settler  a  large  enough  farm 
for  the  good  support  of  his  family  on  condition  that  he  should 
cultivate  it,  he  must  live  on  it,  and  thus  make  it  add  to  the  wel- 
fare of  all  the  people.  So  in  mineral  lands,  the  prospector  is  given 
a  right  to  the  mineral  he  has  discovered,  provided  he  will  develop 
his  claim,  which  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  nation  in  increas- 
ing its  store  of  iron  or  gold.  But  the  desire  of  each  section  of 
the  country  to  hasten  its  own  development  and  the  desire  of  each 
settler  to  improve  his  condition  quickly  leads  to  the  sale  of  farm 
or  claim  and  to  the  accumulation  of  farms  and  mines  in  the  hands 
of  a  few,  rather  than  their  distribution  among  the  people  gener- 
ally. After  this  the  condition  of  newly  settled  lands  swiftly  fol- 
lows that  of  the  older  lands.  This  change  is  hastened  by  the  great 
railroad  grants  and  by  the  allotments  of  school  lands  to  the  vari- 
ous states,  so  that  what  was  once  the  public  domain  belonging  to 
all  the  people,  has,  even  by  society's  endeavor  to  distribute  it  fairly 
and  for  the  public  good,  become  very  largely  the  princely  domain 
of  a  few  private  owners  or  companies.  There  is  an  immense 
area  yet  undistributed  but  it  is  mainly  of  grazing  lands  in  the 
semi-arid  belt.  These  many  millions  of  acres  where  the  rainfall 
averages  as  high  as  twelve  inches,  may  by  the  new  process  of  dry 
farming  be  made  very  productive,  so  that  a  farm  of  forty  acres 
may  support  a  large  family.  Besides  a  ten  acre  patch  of  irrigated 
land  will  yield  a  better  living  than  the  ordinary  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acre  farm  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  Of  the  six  hundred 
million  acres  still  unoccupied  land  in  our  country  not  ten  per 
cent  is  absolutely  desert,  but  for  much  in  the  semi-arid  belt,  and 
where  irrigation  may  be  used,  somewhat  different  methods  of  dis- 
tribution from  our  homestead  laws  must  prevail. 

The  lands  subject  to  the  homestead  laws  are  nearly  exhausted. 
The  sharpest  corner  our  American  society  has  turned  since  the 
destruction  of  slavery  was  turned  when  the  homestead  region  in 


198  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  rain  belt  became  exhausted,  in  the  last  decade  of  the  last  century. 
The  arrest  of  expansion  was  dramatic  in  its  suddenness.  During 
1880-1890  the  Department  of  Agriculture  reports  the  annual 
enlargement  of  our  food  bearing  area  averaged  five  million  acres 
a  year.  During  the  succeeding  ten  years  it  only  amounted  to 
eight  hundred  thousand  acres.  The  division  of  the  land  among 
the  people  is  more  widely  distributed  in  the  United  States  today, 
probably  than  in  any  other  country.  According  to  the  census  of 
1890  over  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  farmers  were  the  owners  of  their 
farms,  and  a  large  majority  of  these  owned  their  farms  without 
any  encumbrance.  Of  the  over  twelve  million  families  in  our 
countrj'  over  forty-eight  per  cent,  owned  their  homes.  Of  these 
twelve  million  families  over  five  millions  were  farmers,  and  of 
these,  over  sixty-four  per  cent,  owned  their  farms.  That  the  tend- 
ency in  our  land  is  for  the  forming  of  large  estates  in  the  hands 
of  the  few  is  very  marked  in  the  east  by  the  desire  of  the  wealthy 
to  have  princely  country  seats,  in  the  west  by  the  desire  of  growing 
sections  to  hasten  their  development.  Besides,  the  great  question 
perplexing  society  today,  of  public  franchises  in  the  hands  of 
corporations  is  a  phase  of  the  land  question,  for  franchises  are 
largely  of  the  land  granted  by  the  people  to  their  present  holders, 
the  land  taken  from  the  owners  by  purchase  or  the  right  of  emi- 
nent domain  for  the  use  of  the  railroads,  the  streets  of  the  city 
granted  for  the  use  of  the  street  cars,  the  right  to  mine  coal  and 
iron  placed  often  in  the  power  of  a  transportation  company. 

The  increase  of  the  city  population  compared  with  the  country 
is  a  marked  feature  of  our  modern  life.  In  1800  in  the  United 
States  the  city  population  was  about  five  per  cent,  of  the  whole; 
in  1900  it  was  about  forty  per  cent..  In  1 900  in  New  York  State 
it  was  nearly  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  Sociologists  account 
for  cities  in  ancient  days  by  the  need  of  protection.  In  modern 
days  they  are  accounted  for  very  largely  by  commercial  and  manu- 
facturing interests.  A  large  manufacturing  plant  employing  a 
thousand  or  more  operatives  creates  a  city  in  itself.  In  all  times 
moreover  the  social  sympathies  are  at  the  bottom  of  city  life.  The 
poor  Irish  woman  sent  to  the  country  by  charity  and  found  back 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  199 

in  the  city  a  short  time  afterwards,  explained  the  whole  matter 
in  her  sharp  answer  "I  would  rather  see  folks  than  stumps". 

Farm  machinerj^  has  lessened  the  number  of  men  required  on 
the  farm  and  steam,  machinery  has  drawn  laborers  to  the  cities 
and  both  have  worked  in  line  with  the  herding  instinct  of  mankind 
to  foster  the  growth  of  cities. 

Now  however  some  elements  are  arising  favoring  country  life. 
The  love  of  nature  is  in  every  bosom,  not  to  see  stumps  but  the 
hills  and  the  sky,  the  fields  and  the  rivers.  Besides  some  cities 
are  becoming  too  crowded  for  comfort ;  there  is  not  breathing 
room.  Then  too  in  the  country  the  church  and  school  as  social 
centers,  the  traveling  library,  the  university  extension  courses,  the 
rural  mail  delivery,  the  telephone  and  the  trolley  car  are  bringing 
to  the  farm  many  of  the  social  advantages  of  the  city;  now  also 
the  transmission  of  electric  power  to  the  farm  house  makes  manu- 
facturing possible  where  individual  taste  and  skill  will  have  freer 
scope  than  in  the  factorj%  In  France  electric  motors  are  furnish- 
ing power  to  silk  weavers  in  many  private  houses.  With  steam 
the  tools  have  to  be  located  in  great  factories  and  largely  owned 
by  the  power  owners.  With  electricity  the  power  may  be  brought 
to  tools  scattered  in  many  homes,  and  the  workers  of  the  tools  may 
in  many  cases  be  the  owners  of  them  and  so  masters  of  their  own 
work. 

Besides  the  love  of  nature  which  now  takes  many  to  the 
countrj'  for  pleasure  there  is  arising  a  condition  which  will  demand 
the  more  extensive  and  thorough  cultivation  of  the  land.  Unless 
the  great  race  movement  already  considered  ceases,  and  there 
seems  no  indication  or  probability  of  such  a  thing  for  many  years 
to  come ;  the  United  States  which  now  supports  with  ease  its  eighty 
millions  of  people  will  in  the  next  fifty  years  have  to  support  a 
population  of  two  hundred  millions,  which  will  be  a  far  different 
affair.  The  tilling  of  the  soil  is  the  most  natural  calling  of  man 
to  which  every  other  is  subsidiary,  to  which  all  manufacturing 
and  trading  must  in  the  end  bow  the  knee.  We  do  not  have  to  be  told 
by  wise  men  that  we  must  go  back  to  the  land.  Every  morning 
when  we  pray  for  our  daily  bread  our  Heavenly  Father  teacher  us 

14 


20O  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

that  impressive  lesson.  The  question  of  the  distribution  of  the 
land  among  the  people  is  one  not  of  diminishing  but  rather  of 
increasing  importance  to  the  welfare  of  mankind  in  our  own  as 
well  as  in  many  other  countries.  In  countries  still  newer  than 
ours  new  methods  of  distribution  of  lands  are  being  tried.  In 
New  Zealand,  that  country  of  advanced  social  ideas,  the  govern- 
ment distributes  the  land  not  only  but  loans  money  on  it  at  nom- 
inal rates  of  interest  so  that  poor  settlers  may  make  a  more  rapid 
development  of  their  own  welfare  and  of  the  country.  The  Sal- 
vation Army  is  also  undertaking  the  removal  of  the  unemployed 
and  discouraged  from  the  crowded  cities,  especially  from  London, 
and  colonizing  them,  under  its  direction  and  care,  in  new  countries 
on  farm  lands,  believing  that  habits  of  industry  and  thrift  will  be 
awakened  by  the  sure  rewards  nature  gives  to  labor ;  it  is  going 
back  to  the  land  that  God's  teachings  may  then  be  learned  as  at 
the  beginning. 

This  slight  glance  we  have  been  able  to  give  to  this  all  impor- 
tant subject  in  many  countries  and  in  many  ages  enables  us  to 
appreciate  some  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Land  Laws  of  the  par- 
ticular Society  of  the  Bible.  It  may  be  said  that  the  land  laws  of 
Judea  are  of  their  own  kind,  they  differ  from  those  of  all  other 
lands  in  at  least  three  important  particulars,  and  so  widely  as  to 
be  worthy  of  the  careful  study  of  all  sociologists.  These  three 
peculiarities  do  not  include  the  claim  that  these  laws  were  given 
by  God  himself,  but  they  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  corroborate 
that  claim. 

We  may  well  consider  this  claim  first,  what  is  its  nature  and 
extent,  how  are  we  to  understand  it;  and  what  bearing  has  it,  as 
so  understood,  upon  the  perplexing  problems  relating  to  the  divi- 
sion of  the  lands  in  our  modern  times?  The  careful  student  will 
find  the  laws  of  the  Hebrews  concerning  the  land  as  well  as  con- 
cerning many  other  subjects,  are  said  to  have  arisen  under  various 
circumstances  recounted  in  the  history  of  the  people  at  Sinai,  and 
in  the  desert  before  the  people  came  into  Canaan.  Most  land 
laws,  we  have  seen,  as  other  social  laws,  have  arisen  from  the  ex- 
perience of  the  people,  have  been  an  evolution  during  the  unfold- 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  201 

ing  of  their  history  as  their  needs  have  called  them  from  customs 
into  laws.  Much  of  this  is  not  excluded  by  this  claim  from  the 
laws  of  the  Hebrews.  We  must  not  think  of  them  as  such  a  new 
people  that  they  had  had  no  experience,  such  an  uneducated  people 
that  they  knew  nothing  of  the  experience  of  other  peoples.  Such 
view^s  have  long  been  made  impossible,  the  records  of  surrounding 
civilizations  written  on  stone  and  brick  by  actors  in  them  are  a 
part  of  the  world's  literature,  as  the  Bible  itself  is  to  be  considered. 
We  have  already  considered  a  real  estate  transfer  when  Abraham 
purchased  a  plot  of  ground  from  the  children  of  Heth,  the  field  is 
described  and  located  and  the  cave  and  the  trees  on  the  borders; 
probably  there  was  a  written  deed  of  conveyance.  A  strange 
discovery  has  been  made  recently  by  the  researches  in  the  East, 
showing  that  such  transactions  were  not  rare  and  that  codes  of 
laws  existed  in  that  early  day.  There  is  now  in  the  Louvre  Palace 
in  Paris  one  of  the  most  interesting  historical  objects  on  earth,  a 
diorite  stela  about  ten  feet  long  covered  with  fine  cuneiform  in- 
scriptions. It  was  dug  up  in  this  twentieth  century  on  the  site  of 
ancient  Susa  where  it  had  been  taken  as  a  trophy  of  war  from 
Babylonia.  The  stela  is  the  acknowledged  work  of  Hammurabi 
who  according  to  the  Babylonian  chronology  was  a  contemporary 
of  Abraham.  This  slab  affirms  that  it  was  set  up  in  the  public 
place  of  the  city  that  the  people  might  read  the  laws  of  the  land. 
The  inference  is  natural  that  there  was  a  general  intelligence 
which  rendered  such  an  act  useful,  that  many  of  the  people  in  the 
valley  of  the  Euphrates  could  read  the  cuneiform  inscription.  This 
code  of  Hammurabi  is  a  civil  code.  The  domestic  relations  take 
about  a  third  of  the  space  of  the  tablet,  professional  ethics,  special- 
ly of  medicine  nearly  another  third,  and  various  contract  forms 
some  for  the  conveyance  of  land,  complete  the  laws  on  this  partic- 
ular stela.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Abraham  saw  and  read  the 
code  of  Hammurabi  before  Terah  became  an  emigrant.  The 
case  of  the  Hebrews  thus  becomes  something  like  the  long  voyage 
of  the  Mayflower,  the  pilgrim  fathers  had  the  experience  of  Eng- 
land and  Holland  behind  them  and  could  forecast  general  laws 
and  compacts  suitable  to  the  life  in  the  new  world  which  awaited 


202  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

them.  The  Hebrews  were  an  intelligent  people,  they  had  not 
suifered  with  their  eyes  closed  and  their  brains  dulled  in  Egypt; 
their  slavery  had  not  been  long  enough  to  make  them  only  slaves. 
The  accumulated  experiences  of  their  free  nomadic  life  and  of 
their  slave  life  were  carried  with  them  into  Sinai  and  the  desert. 
They  could  reflect,  they  could  forecast,  they  had  had  a  history  and 
wide  experience,  they  had  hopes  and  ambitions,  and  could  plan  for 
the  new  home  they  sought. 

Then  too  they  had  a  great  leader,  Moses,  one  of  the  greatest 
men  in  all  history,  he  knew  the  lore  of  Egypt,  this  of  course 
includes  the  laws  and  customs  of  Egypt,  and  especially  the  land 
laws  his  great  predecessor  Joseph  had  fastened  upon  Egypt;  the 
customs  as  we  saw  which  arose  from  the  nature  of  the  government 
and  which  Joseph  simply  crystalized  into  laws.  God's  supernat- 
ural revelation  here  as  any  where  is  simply  his  greater  immanence. 
He  did  not  cast  aside  all  the  experience  of  his  people,  all  the 
knowledge  and  ability  of  Moses,  but  used  them  and  added  to  them. 
Moses  reflected,  considered,  planned  for  the  future  welfare  of 
the  people  not  during  a  few  months  of  an  ocean  voyage  as  the 
Mayflower,  but  during  the  long  years  spent  in  the  wilderness; 
and  he  did  this  in  fellowship  with  God,  in  a  communion  with 
Him  of  which  he  was  fully  conscious  and  upon  which  he  depended. 
Moses  was  the  lawgiver,  the  laws  are  spoken  of  as  given  by  him, 
as  the  laws  of  Moses,  but  only  in  such  a  way  that  God  made  His 
special  will  known  through  Moses.  The  recurring  phrase,  "The 
Lord  spake  unto  Moses"  has  the  same  meaning  the  title  to  our 
national  laws  has.  "Enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives"; it  shows  the  authority  of  the  laws;  but  it  does 
not  minimize  the  children  of  Israel  or  Moses,  but  rather  magnifies 
them. 

Then  too  these  laws,  as  all  the  civil  laws  so  made,  were  to  be 
enforced  b)'^  the  people  themselves.  They  must  be  practical,  that 
is,  must  so  approve  themselves  to  the  present  and  best  judgment 
of  the  people  that  the  public  opinion  of  the  day  would  enforce 
them.  Christ  himself  said  that  these  laws  of  Moses,  that  is  laws 
of  God  through   Moses  were  not  perfect,  not  ideally  right,  that 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  203 

the  laws  of  divorce  for  example  were  given  on  account  of  the 
hardness  of  their  heart.  Still  the  law  had  the  ideal  in  its  scope, 
the  laws  of  divorce  as  we  see  them  were  different  in  purpose 
from  those  prevailing  in  some  of  our  western  states  today;  they 
were  intended  to  promote  the  sanctity  of  marriage.  So  with  the 
land  laws  we  are  now  to  consider,  the  details  may  be  largely  lim- 
ited to  the  conditions  to  which  they  were  adapted,  to  the  Judea 
of  the  long  past,  but  the  principles  underlying  them  may  have  a 
much  wider  and  more  lasting  scope,  and  a  large  application  to  the 
present  conditions  in  all  lands.  They  are  therefore  the  laws 
which  God  taught  the  people  through  their  own  experience  and 
especially  through  the  wisdom  and  foresight  of  Moses  were  suit- 
able and  practical  for  their  new  home.  We  may  also  conclude 
that  the  principles  underlying  these  laws  have  an  element  of  jus- 
tice in  them  and  a  promise  of  prosperity  which  commend  them  to 
the  consideration  of  all  who  seek  the  welfare  of  the  race  of  men 
as  it  engages  in  its  primary  and  all  important  work  of  subduing 
the  earth — in  changing  and  making  the  most  of  its  environment. 

While  the  principle  of  dividing  and  holding  the  land  even  as 
coming  from  God  may  have  been  for  that  land  and  time  alone, 
still  it  may  give  valuable  instruction  on  this  basal  question  which 
like  all  lesser  ones  can  never  be  permanently  settled  until  it  is 
settled  according  to  the  principles  of  everlasting  righteousness. 

The  first  peculiarity  that  distinguished  the  land  laws  of 
Judea  from  those  of  all  other  countries  is  that  the  land  was  orig-  / 
inally  divided  by  lot  equally  among  all  the  tribes  and  families. 
Our  recent  distribution  of  choice  land  in  Oklahoma  was  the  fairest 
modern  civilization  could  devise.  After  due  notice  had  been  sent 
to  all  portions  of  the  United  States  the  prospective  settlers  gath- 
ered on  the  borders  of  the  land,  a  signal  was  given  and  then  there 
was  a  grand  rush  from  all  sides ;  the  quickest  in  observation  and 
action  and  the  strongest  got  the  choice  sections  and  the  rest  took 
what  was  left;  and  when  all  was  taken  the  disappointed  ones, 
the  slow  and  the  weak  went  back  to  their  former  conditions,  or 
formed  new  ones  as  best  they  could.  The  most  recent  distribu- 
tion of  land  has  been  copied  in  a  few  particulars  from  the  Hebrew, 


204  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

a  distribution  by  lot,  though  among  a  very  few  families,  them- 
selves selected  by  their  enterprise  or  favorable  location  from  the 
multitude  of  the  whole  nation ;  the  rush  to  have  their  names 
enrolled  for  the  drawing  simply  took  the  place  of  the  rush  for 
the  land.  The  people  of  Israel  in  that  early  day  avoided  such  a 
scramble  by  agreeing  beforehand  that  when  they  took  possession 
of  the  land  they  would  divide  it  equally  by  lot  among  all  the  peo- 
ple. The  census  of  the  people  described  in  the  closing  chapters 
of  the  book  of  Numbers  was  a  very  careful  one,  by  their  father's 
houses,  according  to  their  families.  At  its  close  the  Lord  said 
unto  Moses,  "Unto  these  shall  the  land  be  divided  for  an  inherit- 
ance according  to  the  number  of  the  names,  the  land  shall  be 
divided  by  lot  according  to  the  names  of  the  families  of  their 
fathers".  A  few  instances  where  a  cast  iron  rule  would  have 
worked  injustice  as  where  there  was  no  father  of  a  family,  and 
only  daughters  to  inherit,  were  adjusted  by  the  leaders.  The  case 
when  certain  kinds  of  land  were  specially  adapted  to  certain 
kinds  of  employment  was  also  provided  for  by  agreement,  those 
having  large  herds  of  cattle  having  the  grazing  lands  east  of  the 
Jordan.  Certain  rewards  for  very  special  virtue  as  in  the  case  of 
Caleb  were  properly  distributed.  But  the  need  of  numbers  rather 
than  the  strength  of  individuals  was  considered  in  the  distribu- 
tion, the  lot  was  to  be  by  numbers,  the  Lord  said  to  Moses,  "Ye 
shall  inherit  the  land  by  lot  according  to  your  families.  To  the 
more  thou  shalt  give  the  more  inheritance,  to  the  fewer  thou 
shalt  give  the  less  inheritance,  to  every  one  according  to  those 
that  were  numbered  of  him,  shall  his  inheritance  be  given,  where- 
soever the  lot  falleth  to  any  man  that  shall  be  his".  There  was 
„  a  great  effort  made  at  justice,  to  give  every  one  a  fair  start. 
Incentive  to  special  effort  was  not  overlooked.  Caleb  the  old 
man  had  the  spirit  of  his  youth,  then  he  had  urged  the  people  to 
advance,  in  his  old  age  he  took  his  mountain  inheritance  from  a 
warlike  clan.  But  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen  in  this  early  dis- 
tribution of  land  that  resembles  settlers  in  a  new  country  taking  it 
all  and  leaving  little  or  nothing  for  later  immigrants,  nothing 
that  resembles  a  conqueror  giving  to  his  great  generals  large  tracts 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  205 

while  holding  the  largest  portion  still  for  himself.  The  settle- 
ment of  Judea  was  a  far  different  thing  from  the  settlement  of 
England  by  the  Normans,  from  the  settlement  of  America  by  the 
English,  there  was  an  effort  made  at  just  distribution,  to  treat 
all  the  people  fairly  and  equally. 

This  plan  which  had  been  devised  beforehand,  which  God  had 
given  to  Moses  was  carried  out  as  soon  and  as  thoroughly  as 
possible  by  Joshua.  The  book  which  bears  his  name  and  recounts 
his  acts  is  generally  regarded  as  a  book  of  conquest,  and  it  deserves 
the  title.  But  a  part  of  the  book  of  less  stirring  interest  is  still  K 
of  great  importance,  it  recounts  the  division  of  the  land  among 
the  tribes  and  families,  and  may  well  bear  the  title,  "the  book 
of  deeds" — the  real  estate  record.  Not  every  family  could  imme- 
diately take  possession  of  its  own  homestead,  but  it  had  the  title. 
It  was  in  the  plan  of  God  that  the  land  should  gradually  come 
into  their  possession,  the  conquest  was  not  to  be  a  sudden  exter- 
mination. He  said  to  Moses  at  Sinai  "I  will  not  drive  them  out 
before  thee  in  one  year,  lest  the  land  become  desolate  and  the 
beasts  of  the  field  multiply  against  thee.  By  little  and  little  will 
I  drive  them  out  before  thee  until  thou  be  increased  and  inherit  the 
land".  The  Canaanites  were  to  be  gradually  expelled  from  the 
land,  and  the  action  of  the  whole  nation  and  of  each  tribe  in  its 
own  possession  was  to  result  in  each  family  having  a  homestead 
of  its  own ;  and  this  homestead  was  given  to  each  family  according 
to  its  numbers  by  lot.  The  title  was  in  each  family,  and  each 
family  was  to  come  into  possession  of  its  own  home  as  soon  as  the 
general  conditions  would  allow. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  land  of  Judea  could  be  culti- 
vated and  eventually  become  so,  and  in  a  great  variety  of  ways, 
the  hills  were  terraced  with  vineyards  and  olive  groves,  the 
plains  were  covered  with  corn  and  flocks.  There  must  have  been 
over  fifteen  millions  of  acres  available  for  productive  purposes 
and  this  would  make  available  for  each  family  a  home  farm  of 
twenty  or  thirty  acres  according  to  the  number  of  its  members. 
There  were  to  be  in  the  whole  country  a  large  number  of  small 
estates  given  to  all  the  families  of  the  Hebrews  by  lot.     This  was 


2o6  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  design  of  God,  this  was  the  plan  of  the  people  as  provided 
for  in  the  original  distribution  of  the  land  by  lot.  This  plan  was 
not  only  for  the  start,  it  had  a  far  look  ahead  through  all  the 
coming  generations. 
I  The  second  peculiarity  that  distinguishes  the  land  laws  of 
Judea  from  those  of  all  other  countries  is  the  provision  made  for 
the  alienation  and  descent  of  the  land  titles.  Frequently  the  laws 
of  other  lands  so  restrict  alienation  in  reference  to  descent  as  to 
provide  for  the  perpetuation  of  great  estates,  as  in  England.  In 
other  lands  the  laws  promote  alienation  and  so  foster  the  growth 
of  great  estates  while  the  laws  of  descent  intended  to  divide  great 
estates  are  subject  to  evasion,  as  in  our  own  country.  The  laws 
of  both  alienation  and  descent  in  Judea  are  so  interwoven  that 
they  have  to  be  considered  together  and  their  design  is  evidently 
to  preserve  small  estates,  to  perpetuate  among  the  succeeding  gen- 
erations the  equal  possession  of  the  land  as  provided  for  in  the 
original  distribution.  Since  the  tendency  is  for  reproduction  to 
outgrow  production,  for  the  population  to  increase  more  rapidly 
where  the  land  under  thorough  cultivation  increases  in  fruitful- 
ness,  this  design  becomes  a  very  difficult  one  to  accomplish.  Since 
also  there  are  two  tendencies  of  human  nature,  one  of  deteriora- 
tion, of  some  men  to  become  lazy  and  inefficient,  the  other  of  evo- 
lution, of  some  men  to  become  energetic  and  efficient,  and  since 
it  is  a  wise  policy  of  any  society  to  discourage  the  deterioration 
and  to  encourage  the  evolution,  to  give  opportunity  to  individual 
initiative  in  holding  and  cultivating  the  land  as  well  as  in  other 
matters,  the  design  of  perpetuating  small  holdings  becomes  still 
more  difficult. 

Still  it  cannot  be  questioned  that  the  thorough  cultivation  of 
any  country,  the  intensive  farming  as  it  is  called,  depends  upon 
small  estates.  It  is  equally  evident  that  the  proper  thing  to  do 
with  the  lazy  and  inefficient  is  not  to  kill  them  off  by  slow  starva- 
tion, but  to  stimulate  them  out  of  their  degeneracy.  That  the 
land  laws  of  Judea  were  wisely  adapted  to  both  these  ends  becomes 
quite  evident  as  we  study  them. 

The  laws  of  both  alienation  and  descent  of  land  titles  combined 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  207 

to  hold  the  land  originally  given  to  a  certain  family,  in  that  family, 
for  succeeding  generations.  Each  family  was  to  have  its  own  home 
to  start  with  and  the  whole  policy  of  the  laws  rendered  it  difficult 
for  that  family  to  either  dispose  of  it  or  to  lose  its  home.  The 
laws  of  inheritance  seem  to  have  come  down  from  an  earlier  age 
in  their  leading  principles,  and  to  have  been  modified  and  adapted 
to  the  changed  conditions  according  to  this  policy. 

Sociologists  generally  hold  that  the  head  of  a  family  owes  his 
position  of  headship  originally  to  physical  superiority;  that  the 
headship  descends  from  father  to  eldest  son  for  the  same  reason; 
that  the  younger  sons  and  the  daughters  are  generally  not  as 
strong ;  that  where  this  reason  no  longer  exists  in  fact,  the  superior- 
ity is  nevertheless  acknowledged  by  the  force  of  custom  or  by  a 
kind  of  hypnotic  control  of  suggested  authority;  and  that  where 
many  families  are  combined  in  a  tribe  or  society  this  original  order 
is  simply  recognized. 

Positions  of  authority  also  frequently  develop  qualities  of  lead- 
ership as  is  frequently  seen  in  our  free  republic,  and  the  headship 
of  a  family  thus  becomes  one  of  mental  superiority  and  strength  of 
will.  We  have  already  seen  that  the  early  heads  of  families 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  were  possessed  of  strong  qualities  which 
have  descended  through  many  genefations,  and  that  the  law  of 
inheritance  of  the  eldest  son  was  in  their  day  unquestioned;  and 
that  with  it  there  was  the  acknowledgment  of  the  rights  of  other 
children  both  sons  and  daughters.  In  the  glimpse  we  have  of  a 
still  earlier  family,  no  one  can  question  the  right  of  headship  of  a 
family  in  Job,  and  in  his  family  no  eldest  son  is  seen,  but  the  sons 
and  daughters  are  on  an  equality,  and  he  gave  the  daughters  an  in- 
heritance among  their  brethren.  There  seems  to  have  been  in  that 
early  day  no  such  thing  as  a  will,  but  the  blessing  of  a  father  in  the 
closing  scenes  of  his  life  seems  to  have  been  sacredly  carried  out, 
and  probably  was  in  the  nature  of  gifts  to  his  children. 

When  we  come  to  the  division  of  Canaan  among  the  tribes  the 
right  of  the  eldest  son  is  entirely  lost  in  the  policy  of  dividing  the 
land  by  lot.  But  when  we  come  to  consider  the  laws  of  descent  of 
the  land  titles  so  secured  the  right  of  the  eldest  son  to  be  the  head 


2o8  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  the  family  seems  to  have  been  the  basis  of  keeping  the  land  in 
that  family.  The  Lord  spoke  to  Moses  "If  a  man  die  and  have 
no  son  ye  shall  cause  his  inheritance  to  pass  unto  his  daugh- 
ter, if  he  have  no  daughter  it  shall  pass  to  his  brethren,  if  he 
have  no  brethren  it  shall  pass  to  his  father's  brethren,  if  his  father 
has  no  brethren  it  shall  pass  to  his  next  of  kin.  If  it  passes  to  the 
daughters  let  them  marry  to  whom  they  think  best,  but  only  to  the 
tribes  of  their  father  shall  they  marry,  so  that  no  inheritance  be 
taken  away  from  the  lot  of  that  tribe."  It  is  also  provided  that 
the  father  when  he  causeth  his  sons  to  inherit  that  which  he  hath 
he  shall  acknowledge  the  right  of  the  first  born,  the  beginning  of 
his  strength,  by  giving  him  a  double  portion  of  all  that  he  hath. 
When  we  come  to  the  time  of  Christ  while  the  Jews  were  still 
living  in  their  own  land  we  may  suppose  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  or  lost  son  is  a  true  picture  of  the  times.  In  that  the 
father  gives  his  younger  son  the  portion  falling  to  him,  he  divided 
unto  him  his  living,  but  it  was  not  real  estate,  for  the  younger  son 
took  it  with  him  on  his  wild  career.  When  the  father  expostulates 
with  the  elder  son,  he  said:  "Son  thou  are  ever  with  me  and  all 
that  I  have  is  thine".  The  real  estate,  the  home  was  his  by  right. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  before  he  came  into  possession  of  it  his  feel- 
ings entirely  changed  towards  his  restored  brother. 

While  the  right  of  the  eldest  son  to  the  land  seems  to  be  ac- 
knowledged, it  is  only  as  he  is  head  of  the  family,  and  with  his 
right  go  also  duties  to  the  younger  sons  and  the  daughters  in  the 
home  of  their  father.  Much  would  also  depend  upon  parental 
affection  in  making  provision  by  gift  and  direction  for  the  younger 
children ;  also  upon  public  opinion  which  in  the  village  farm  life 
would  be  strong  and  fostered  by  the  general  tendency  of  the  social 
policy  to  the  spirit  of  brotherhood.  The  holdings  of  land  were 
originally  very  small,  and  could  not  be  subdivided,  certainly  not 
to  an  infinitesimal  degree  during  the  passage  of  many  generations. 
Besides  the  policy  of  the  social  life  was  to  the  formation  of  new 
families,  marriages  of  both  sons  and  daughters  were  fostered.  In 
the  rapid  development  of  the  great  prosperity  of  the  nation  a  large 
element  was  the  initiative  of  many  leaving  homes  to  found  new 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  209 

ones.  While  these  agencies  were  strong  the  stability  of  society 
was  greatly  promoted  by  the  stimulated  industry  and  the  quickened 
sentiment  which  each  family  had  for  the  homestead,  the  long  asso- 
ciations of  many  generations  for  the  land  originally  given  to  the 
fathers  by  lot. 

As  with  the  descent  of  the  title  so  with  the  transfer  the  policy  4. 
of  the  land  laws  was  to  perpetuate  the  original  distribution  of  the 
land.  God  said  to  Moses:  "The  land  shall  not  be  sold  in  per- 
petuity, the  land  is  mine  and  ye  are  strangers  and  sojourners  with 
me".  When  it  comes  to  the  application  of  this  general  law  pro- 
vision is  specially  made  for  those  who  might  be  forced  by  adverse 
circumstances  to  sell  their  land.  No  provision  is  made  for  those 
whose  prosperity  or  disposition  might  incline  them  to  sell.  It  is 
evidently  designed  that  the  attachment  to  the  land  of  their  fathers 
would  lead  all  to  hold  fast  their  possessions.  This,  as  we  shall 
soon  see,  was  not  always  the  case.  With  reference  to  the  one 
forced  to  sell  there  were  two  remarkable  provisions.  One  was  the 
right  of  redemption,  he,  when  he  became  able,  or  the  next  of  kin 
might  redeem  it  at  any  time.  The  sale  was  alwaj's  subject  to  the 
right  of  redemption.  If  this  right  was  not  exercised  then  when 
the  fiftieth  year  came  round,  the  year  of  Jubilee,  all  land  titles 
returned  to  the  original  family  or  head  of  the  family.  The  price 
of  land  therefore,  and  the  price  of  redemption,  were  always  to  be 
calculated  with  reference  to  the  regularly  recurring  year  of  Jubi- 
lee. The  only  exception  was  in  the  case  of  the  sale  of  a  house  in  a 
walled  city,  the  right  of  redemption  was  for  only  one  year,  and 
there  was  no  return  in  the  year  of  Jubilee.  This  exception  to  the 
general  policy  of  the  laws  favoring  the  poor  seems  hard  to  explain 
since  the  unearned  increment  of  value  would  probably  be  greater  in 
large  cities  than  in  farming  villages ;  but  the  general  result  must 
have  been  in  favor  of  living  in  the  country  and  tilling  the  soil,  in 
favor  of  keeping  up  the  homestead. 

The  few  incidents  mentioned  in  the  history  show  how  the 
working  of  the  laws  favored  the  poor.  Two  cases  show  families 
driven  away  by  hard  times  coming  back  after  the  hard  times  were 
over  and  again  receiving  their  own.    In  Christian  lands  today  such 


\ 


2IO  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

families  would  find  their  homesteads  in  possession  of  others,  and 
they  would  find  it  difficult  to  start  again.  Ruth  and  Naomi 
would  have  probably  sunk  down  in  poverty  in  our  rich  country, 
but  in  that  day  they  were  favored  by  provisions  made  for  such 
cases  in  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  land  and  the  story  of  their 
lives  thus  becomes  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  touching  idyls 
of  love  and  home,  of  peace  and  prosperity.  Their  experience  was 
probably  only  a  specimen  of  many  such.  The  story  of  the  Shu- 
nammite  women  gives  another  very  attractive  picture  of  rural 
life,  and  shows  that  even  in  the  Northern  Kingdom  where  the  laws 
were  relaxed,  and  in  spite  of,  rather  than  because  of,  the  favor 
of  Elisha,  the  king  acknowledged  her  rights  and  restored  house 
and  lands  to  her.  How  strong  these  laws  were  even  in  the  North- 
ern Kingdom  is  shown  in  that  Ahab  an  arbitrary  king  was  baffled 
and  grieved  because  Naboth  refused  to  sell  his  inheritance.  Jezebel, 
the  unscrupulous  Queen,  has  Naboth  killed  and  seizes  the  coveted 
land.  Then  Elijah  denounces  them  both.  "Hast  thou  killed  and 
taken  possession,  here  dogs  lick  thy  blood  where  Naboth  was 
killed,  and  dogs  shall  eat  Jezebel  by  the  rampart  of  Jezreel." 

That  many  of  the  well-to-do  left  their  homes  inherited  from 
their  fathers  and  from  the  worthiest  motives,  is  plain  from  the 
story  of  the  division  of  the  kingdom.  When  Jeroboam  formed 
the  Northern  Kingdom,  and  as  a  piece  of  wise  state  policy  to  keep 
the  people  from  worshiping  at  Jerusalem,  set  up  a  corrupted  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah  in  the  calves  at  the  northern  and  southern  borders 
of  his  kingdom  he  lost  many  of  the  very  best  of  his  people  who 
in  order  to  worship  Jehovah  purely,  left  their  homesteads  in  all  the 
northern  tribes  and  emigrated  to  the  Southern  Kingdom. 

As  the  land  became  prosperous  under  the  thorough  cultivation 
promoted  by  many  small  estates  the  tendency  to  form  large  estates 
present  there  as  in  all  lands  and  among  all  peoples,  became  stronger 
and  restive  under  the  restraint,  and  in  many  cases  cast  off 
restraint.  So  the  rich  purchased  where  they  could  and  held  as 
long  as  they  could,  and  waxing  in  power  they  forced  the  poor  to 
sell  without  redemption,  and  there  arose  a  landed  estate  class 
which  the  prophets  time  and  time  again  denounce  as  land  grab- 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  211 

bers.  Such  a  class  could  only  exist  by  setting  aside  the  laws  fos- 
tering small  estates,  by  overthrowing  the  whole  policy  estab- 
lished by  God  in  the  original  gift  of  the  promised  land.  Hosea 
in  the  Northern  Kingdom  denounced  those  who  removed  land 
marks  and  crushed  in  judgment.  Micah  in  the  Southern  Kingdom 
said  of  a  large  class:  "They  covet  fields  and  seize  them,  and 
houses  and  take  them  away,  they  oppress  a  man  and  his  house, 
even  his  heritage".  Isaiah,  the  princely  orator  said  "Woe  to  them 
that  join  house  to  house  and  field  to  field  to  dwell  alone  in  the 
land,  till  there  be  no  room  for  others".  On  the  hills  west  of 
Jerusalem  and  sloping  off  toward  the  great  sea  were  many  beau- 
tiful country  seats,  splendid  palaces  and  wide  parks  of  the  wealthy 
nobles,  but  they  were  contrary  to  the  policy  of  the  laws  of  Moses 
and  their  princely  owners  were  denounced  by  the  prophets  as 
deserving  the  righteous  indignation  of  God. 

The  provision  that  the  Levites  should  not  be  the  holders  of 
productive  lands  or  of  country  estates,  but  should  be  assigned  to 
certain  cities,  some  fifty  or  more  scattered  over  all  the  land  of 
Palestine,  and  should  be  supported  by  the  whole  nation  is  certainly 
an  important  part  of  the  land  laws.  The  Levites  were  not  only  an 
important  class  in  the  worship  of  the  nation,  but  equally  important 
in  the  government  and  the  education  of  the  people. 

The  special  service  of  the  Levites  was  in  worship ;  but  the  God 
the  people  worshiped  was  really  their  King;  the  Temple  was  not 
so  much  a  church  as  a  palace,  the  palace  of  the  King.  The 
people  were  taught  and  led  to  govern  themselves,  in  the  tribal 
condition  and  under  the  judges  and  in  the  monarchy,  there  was  to 
be  a  large  local  self  government.  In  whatever  form  of  govern- 
ment, the  great  God  was  the  supreme  source  of  authority,  and 
the  Levites  were  to  wait  upon  Him  as  the  Great  King.  The 
Levites  lived  in  the  fifty  cities  scattered  throughout  the  whole  land, 
many  beside  Levites  lived  in  these  cities,  and  the  cities  themselves 
were  centers  of  influence  in  the  land.  In  all  stages  of  the  gov- 
ment  the  Levites  were  a  class  not  supported  in  laziness  or  having 
only  small  and  rare  duties  at  a  central  place  of  worship,  but  a 
busy  and  influential  class  to  administer  justice,  to  advance  learn- 


212  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

ing,  to  promote  religion.  They  were  treasurers,  they  had  the 
oversight  of  Israel  for  all  the  business  of  the  Lord,  and  for  the 
service  of  the  King,  for  every  matter  pertaining  to  God  and  the 
affairs  of  the  King,  they  were  judges  in  the  land,  set  for  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Lord  and  for  controversies,  were  oflficers  over  the  peo- 
ple. With  this  there  was  connected  the  provision  that  they  should 
never  hold  real  estate.  The  possibility  of  this  learned  and  influ- 
ential class  becoming  large  land  owners,  and  so  entrenching  them- 
selves in  political  power  in  any  portion  of,  or  in  the  whole  nation, 
was  thus  effectively  checked.  That  which  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind has  crushed  the  liberties  of  many  nations,  the  growth  of  a 
landed  aristocracy,  claiming  the  right  to  rule  in  the  nation  was 
discouraged  by  this  feature  of  the  land  laws.  The  famous  law- 
givers of  antiquity,  Lycurgus,  Solon  and  Numa  and  the  more 
modern  ones  Justinian  and  Napoleon  with  all  their  wisdom  never 
so  checked  the  grasp  which  learning  and  property  combined  might 
take   of   political   power. 

The  Canaanites,  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  land,  had  neither 
crowded  it  nor  exhausted  it.  From  the  glimpses  we  have  of  them 
in  the  time  of  Abraham  they  were  an  idle,  indulgent  population. 
The  land  is  described  when  given  to  the  Hebrews  as  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey,  an  expression  denoting  an  abundant  beauty  and 
fruitfulness,  a  land  of  virgin  fertility.  Under  the  policy  of  small 
land  holdings  with  thorough  cultivation  the  land  could  support 
a  large  population,  and  would  be  preserved  from  exhaustion. 
That  in  the  time  of  Solomon  when  it  was  one  kingdom,  and  in 
the  time  of  the  great  kings  both  of  Judah  and  of  Israel,  and  in 
the  time  of  Christ  it  held  a  vast  and  prosperous  population  is 
quite  evident  from  the  narrative.  But  our  own  mode  of  living  is 
so  superior  to  that  of  our  fathers  of  a  couple  of  generations  back, 
and  their  mode  of  living  was  so  superior  to  that  of  a  dozen  gen- 
erations ago,  that  we  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  the  mode  of 
living  in  that  far  back  age  must  have  been  very  rude,  little  above 
savages  or  brutes.  Then  also  we  learn  that  the  mode  of  living 
that  prevails  in  eastern  lands,  even  in  Palestine  today  is  very  low, 
and  we  infer  that  that  which  prevailed  in  those  lands  centuries 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  213 

ago  must  have  been  still  worse.  To  correct  this  wrong  impression 
we  have  only  to  exercise  our  historical  imagination  and  to  read 
between  the  lines  of  descriptions  of  courts  and  armies,  of  cities 
and  country,  of  manners  and  customs,  and  to  reconstruct  the 
background  of  the  great  luxurious  civilizations  of  the  Euphrates 
and  the  Nile. 

Palestine  was  a  land  of  many  cities,  the  fifty  cities  of  the 
Levites,  if  these  were  all  in  the  early  days,  are  a  great  number  for 
such  a  small  countrjr.  Josephus  tells  us  that  in  his.  day,  a  few 
years  after  the  time  of  Christ,  there  were  two  hundred  cities  in 
the  single  province  of  Galilee,  each  having  over  fifteen  thousand 
inhabitants.  The  great  capital  cities  of  Jerusalem  and  Samaria 
in  the  time  of  the  great  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel  were  seats 
of  political  power  and  luxury.  The  prophets  speak  of  ivory  pal- 
aces, their  oratorical  fervor  may  have  led  to  rather  high  coloring, 
our  millionaires  at  any  rate  must  be  content  with  marble  palaces. 
Isaiah's  description  of  the  dress  of  the  noble  women  of  the  capital 
city  compares  favorably  with  Balzac's  description  of  the  dress  of 
the  noble  women  of  Paris,  the  modern  capital  of  the  world  of 
fashion.  Cities  were  the  great  centers  not  only  of  political  power 
and  social  influence,  but  of  supply  and  distribution  of  commodi- 
ties, of  clothing  and  varied  kinds  of  food.  Where  cities  flourish 
the  country  must  support  them  or  they  must  be  supported  by 
manufacturing  and  commerce.  Manufacturing  in  those  days  was 
largely  an  affair  of  the  home  the  spinning  and  weaving  of  wool 
and  linen  and  silk,  as  easily  carried  on  in  the  country  as  in  the 
city.  Commerce  then  was  a  matter  of  caravans  largely  from  the 
two  great  valley  civilizations,  and  passed  along  the  land  of 
Palestine  between  the  mountains  and  the  great  sea,  and  was  sup- 
plemented by  the  fleets  of  their  northern  neighbors  sailing  over 
seas  to  many  lands.  But  few  cities  comparatively  were  situated 
along  either  of  these  highways  of  commerce.  It  is  evident  the 
cities  of  Judea  were  supported  by  the  country  itself. 

Besides  the  cities  there  were  a  multitude  of  farming  villages. 
The  farms  were  small,  from  twenty  to  thirty  acres,  and  a  group  of 
farms  surrounded  the  village.     In  the  morning  the  farmers,  men. 


214  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  women  as  well,  quite  largely  went  out  to  till  their  farms,  to 
care  for  the  vineyards  and  olive  groves  on  the  hillsides,  to  sow  the 
seed  or  reap  the  harvest,  to  tend  the  cattle  and  the  sheep,  to  the 
care  of  the  bees  and  the  silk  worms.  In  the  evening  they  came 
back  to  the  village;  each  family  had  its  own  house.  The  policy 
of  the  land  laws  was  to  foster  the  home,  and  in  that  day,  as  now, 
and  it  will  probably  always  be  so,  the  home  is  composed  of  two  ele- 
ments, the  house  and  the  family,  the  house  not  only  for  shelter  but 
for  seclusion,  and  the  family,  the  parents  and  children  developing 
their  individual  lives  in  the  seclusion  of  the  house.  But  these 
houses  were  in  a  village,  so  there  was  not  the  isolation  of  farm  life 
so  familiar  to  us,  the  house  in  the  center  of  a  large  farm,  or  along 
the  road  side  with  no  other  house  in  sight  or  in  speaking  distance; 
but  the  social  life  of  near  neighbors  in  a  village.  Of  the  many 
cities  Capernaum  and  Bethsaida  are  very  familiar  to  us,  of  the 
many  villages  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  are  sacred  places.  Of 
course  in  such  villages  there  would  be  need  of  and  opportunity  for 
other  callings  than  that  of  farmer;  though  closely  related  to  farm- 
ing life,  the  smith  and  the  wheel-wright,  the  carpenter  and  the 
storekeeper,  and  in  the  homes  the  spinning  and  weaving  of  gar- 
ments and  making  of  various  kinds  of  food  for  sale  there,  or  in  the 
cities.  This  land  policy  of  small  holdings  would  thus  lead  to  the 
thorough  cultivation  of  all  the  cultivatable  land  and  also  develop 
the  social  life  of  the  people.  These  villages  were  the  homes  of  the 
owners  of  the  small  estates,  independent  land  owners  with  all  the 
social  uplift  of  that  position.  Not  like  the  villages  of  the  hired 
workers  of  great  estates  found  sometimes  in  our  own  country,  nor 
like  the  villages  of  the  renters  of  small  portions  of  large  estates 
found  in  the  old  world,  these  villages  had  the  social  incentive  of 
individual  ownership. 

In  the  time  of  Christ  it  thus  became  easy  for  audiences  of  four 
or  five  thousand  men,  besides  women  and  children,  to  gather  to 
hear  and  follow  Him,  sometimes  too  far  distant  from  any  one  vil- 
lage large  enough  for  them  to  buy  bread  for  such  a  multitude. 
And  that  the  fertility  of  the  land  had  been  fostered  and  kept  up  is 
clear  since  Christ  could  speak  to  an  audience  of  farmers,  of  good 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  215 

land  bringing  forth  a  hundred  fold,  and  of  the  poorest  cultivatable 
land  bringing  forth  thirty  fold.  Our  own  country  is  still  new  but 
already  by  our  method  of  farming  large  farms  for  present  profit, 
its  productiveness  has  greatly  deteriorated.  Of  new  lands  in  the 
west  where  once  the  wheat  yield  was  thirty  bushels  to  the  acre, 
it  is  now  only  from  twelve  to  eighteen.  Besides  farms  are  being 
abandoned  not  only  by  the  drift  to  the  city  but  by  being  exhausted, 
when  a  farm  properly  cared  for  should  grow  in  fertility  and  value. 
The  policy  of  the  land  laws  to  keep  estates  small,  and  to  foster 
permanency  of  holding  these  small  estates  fostered  productiveness, 
the  home  sentiment  and  a  rich  social  life,  and  made  Palestine, 
though  a  small  land,  the  prosperous  home  of  a  large  population 
and  a  great  civilization.  These  two  peculiar  features  of  the  land 
laws  of  the  Hebrews  make  the  study  of  the  particular  society  of 
the  Bible  very  instructive  and  stimulating  to  our  society  today. 

The  third  peculiarity  that  distinguishes  the  land  laws  of  Judea 
from  those  of  all  other  countries  may  be  called  the  management  of 
the  land  for  the  common  good  of  all  the  people.  There  are  three 
distinct  elements  of  this  perhaps  the  greatest  peculiarity,  each 
deserving  special  attention;  the  required  rest  for  the  land;  the 
special  provision  made  for  the  poor  with  intent  to  diminish  and 
eliminate  poverty  from  the  people ;  and  the  raising  of  taxes. 

The  Bible  has  been  so  largely  considered  as  teaching  concerning 
God,  and  religion  has  been  so  almost  exclusively  regarded  as  the 
relation  of  man  to  God,  that  the  teachings  of  God  concerning  man 
in  the  Bible  and  the  relation  of  man  to  man  in  religion  have  been 
somewhat  overlooked.  The  average  reader  of  the  Bible  has  hardly 
noticed  the  laws  requiring  rest  for  the  land.  The  average 
student  of  the  Bible,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  many  commentaries, 
has  given  only  a  glance  at  these  laws  and  that  generally  from  a 
purely  religious  standpoint,  has  perhaps  concluded  they  were  one 
of  the  heavy  requirements  of  the  laws  of  Moses  which  the  people 
were  hardly  able  to  bear.  When  we  begin  to  look  at  them  from  a 
sociological  standpoint  and  consider  their  intent  with  reference  to 
social  development  and  realize  the  condition  of  society  under  their 
operation  they  assume  a  new  and  great  interest  to  us.     The  laws 

15 


2i6  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

given,  as  we  have  seen,  by  God  through  Moses  required  that  the 
land  should  rest  completely  every  seventh  year  and  that  at  the  end 
of  each  group  of  seven  seventh  years  the  land  should  rest  com- 
pletely for  two  successive  years.  The  people  were  an  agricultural 
people,  their  prosperity  depended  upon  the  thorough  cultivation  of 
the  land,  this  was  stimulated  by  small  estates  held  by  successive 
generations  of  farmer  families,  this  has  been  very  plain  and  easy 
to  understand.  But  the  present  provision  is  certainly  peculiar. 
The  law  required  that  every  seventh  year  should  be  a  year  of 
solemn  rest  for  the  land ;  that  it  should  rest  and  lie  fallow,  that 
they  should  not  sow  nor  reap  nor  gather  grapes  nor  prune  their 
vineyards  nor  olive  trees.  Then  came  the  fiftieth  year,  following 
upon  a  year  of  the  land's  rest.  It  was  a  joyous  year,  "Thou  shalt 
send  abroad  the  loud  trumpet  proclaiming  liberty  through  all  the 
land",  the  return  of  ever)-  man  to  his  possession,  of  every  man  to 
his  family.  The  trumpet  was  to  sound  this  glorious,  joyous  liberty 
on  the  day  of  the  Atonement,  a  day  far  along  in  the  year  the  tenth 
day  of  the  seventh  month,  but  the  whole  year  was  a  year  of  Jubi- 
lee. This  whole  year  was  to  be  a  solemn  year  of  rest  for  the  land ; 
they  were  not  to  sow  nor  reap  the  harvest  nor  gather  grapes,  the 
land  was  to  rest  and  lie  fallow.  The  narrative  of  the  enactment 
of  the  laws  gives  some  of  the  purposes  of  them.  The  first,  the 
rest  of  the  land,  is  involved  in  the  Bible  idea  of  rest,  the  Sabbath 
v/as  made  for  man.  "Six  years  thou  shalt  sow  thy  field  and  six 
years  thou  shalt  prune  the  vineyard  and  gather  in  its  fruits  but  the 
seventh  year  shall  be  a  solemn  rest  for  the  land,  a  Sabbath  unto 
Jehovah,  thou  shalt  neither  sow  thy  seed  nor  prune  thy  vineyard. 
That  which  groweth  of  itself  of  thy  harvest  thou  shalt  not  reap, 
and  the  grapes  of  thy  undressed  vine  thou  shalt  not  gather,  it  shall 
be  a  year  of  solemn  rest  for  the  land.  And  the  Sabbath  of  the 
land  shall  be  food  for  you".  The  land  was  to  rest,  that  it  might 
not  be  exhausted,  that  its  productive  powers  might  be  recuperated, 
that  it  might  give  food  to  all  the  people.  The  land  was  to  be 
in  the  possession  of  the  people,  their  home  for  many  generations, 
one  generation  was  not  to  exhaust  it,  not  to  so  continuously  get 
all  they  could  out  of  it  that  coming  generations  could  get  nothing 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  217 

out  of  it.  Each  family  on  its  small  estate  was  required  by  this 
peculiar  law  to  so  treat  the  land  it  had  received  by  lot,  and  which 
was  to  descend  through  that  family  to  unnumbered  generations, 
that  the  land  itself  should  not  be  worn  out.  God  had  a  far  look 
ahead,  and  he  required  the  people  to  look  ahead  with  him.  God 
who  made  the  earth  knew  best  how  to  treat  it  and  he  teaches  the 
people  that  it  needs  a  rest,  it  needs  to  lie  fallow ;  and  he  teaches 
the  present  possessors  that  they  have  no  right  to  exhaust  the  earth 
itself,  that  there  are  generations  coming  after  them  who  have  as 
good  a  right  to  it  as  they  have. 

The  required  rest  for  the  land  required  also  a  rest  for  the 
people ;  and  a  rest  for  a  purpose.  Like  all  true  rest  this,  rather 
than  mere  idleness,  was  a  change  of  thought,  purpose  and  occu- 
pation. It  was  a  check  to  the  inordinate  grasping  for  oneself  and 
his  immediate  descendants,  a  self  restraint  and  denial  of  present 
profits,  for  the  sake  of  the  coming  generations.  Farmers,  especially 
those  living  in  sunny  fruitful  lands,  need  a  rest  as  much  as  any 
class  of  men,  that  their  life  does  not  become  a  narrow  round  of 
drudgery  and  toil.  There  was  also  the  needed  opportunity  each 
seventh  year  to  gather  up  the  odds  and  ends  of  the  six  years 
continuous  labor  and  to  plan  and  prepare  for  the  future. 

Another  purpose  of  these  laws  of  the  rest  for  the  land  especially 
upon  the  character  of  the  people  is  mentioned  in  one  of  the  enact- 
ments. "If  ye  shall  say  what  shall  we  eat  the  seventh  j^ear  when 
we  gather  no  increase.  I  will  command  my  blessing  upon  you 
in  the  sixth  year,  it  shall  bring  forth  fruit  for  three  years,  until 
the  fruits  of  the  ninth  year  come  ye  shall  eat  the  old  store."  Here 
as  always  the  blessing  of  God  is  based  upon  character  and  conduct, 
upon  the  obedience  rendered  to  the  laws  of  nature.  They  were  to 
be  industrious  and  thorough  farmers  for  the  six  years,  and  God's 
blessing  came  through  well  cultivated  land.  They  were  also  to 
be  provident  men,  and  to  lay  up  the  surplus,  that  during  the  year, 
or  even  during  the  two  years  of  the  land's  rest  they  might  eat  of 
the  old   store. 

A  third  purpose  of  these  laws  requiring  the  rest  for  the  land 
every  seventh  year  is  found  in  another  enactment,  "Let  the  land 


2i8  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

rest  and  lie  fallow  that  the  poor  of  the  people  may  eat  and  what 
they  leave  the  beast  of  the  field  shall  eat".  They  were  to  acknowl- 
edge that  back  of  the  original  ownership  of  the  small  estates  lay 
the  ownership  of  all  the  people;  that  "the  earth  was  the  Lord's 
and  the  fullness  thereof",  and  that  He  had  given  certain  rights  in 
it  to  all  the  people,  what  they  could  not  use  He  gave  to  the  beasts 
of  the  field.  The  holders  of  the  small  estates  had  no  inherent 
right  to  the  land,  every  seventh  year  it  must  lie  fallow  and  its 
spontaneous  product  was  the  common  property  of  the  poor  and 
the  stranger,  the  holders  of  the  estate  must  not  touch  it  or  inter- 
fere with  the  rights  of  the  poor.  The  poor  too  were  taught  indus- 
try, they  were  to  labor  for  all  they  gathered,  and  frugality  also, 
they  could  store  up  for  the  future  need.  In  the  line  of  this  pur- 
pose was  the  further  provision,  ''At  the  end  of  every  seven  years 
thou  shall  make  a  release,  every  creditor  shall  release  that  which 
he  hath  lent  to  his  neighbor,  he  shall  not  exact  it  of  his  neighbor 
and  his  brother,  for  the  Lord's  release  has  been  proclaimed,  "In 
order  that  there  shall  be  no  poor  with  thee  if  thou  dost  obey,  for 
the  Lord  thy  God  will  surely  bless  thee  in  the  land  He  giveth 
thee." 

This  shows  clearly  the  intent  of  these  laws,  and  it  is  an  intent 
which  modern  civilization  may  well  adopt  for  itself,  and  with  all 
its  wisdom  try  to  accomplish,  "that  there  shall  be  no  poor  with 
thee",  for  one  of  its  greatest  reproaches  is  the  prevalence  of  pov- 
erty in  its  richest  lands.  These  laws  of  the  land  rest  are  the  first 
element  in  this  third  great  peculiarity  of  the  land  laws  of  the 
Hebrews,  that  of  the  management  of  the  land  for  the  common 
good  of  all  the  people. 

The  second  element  in  the  management  of  the  land  for  the 
common  good  of  all  the  people  was  a  provision  for  the  landless 
in  the  ordinary  gathering  of  the  harvests.  It  is  in  direct  line 
with  the  purpose  for  the  poor  we  have  just  been  considering,  and 
it  is  but  one  of  the  several  enactments  to  relieve  and  do  away  with 
the  condition  of  poverty,  which  subject  demands  more  careful 
consideration  by  itself,  and  so  this  element  needs  only  to  be  men- 
tioned now.     "When  ye  reap  the  harvest  of  your  land  thou  shalt 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  219 

not  wholly  reap  the  corners  of  thy  field  neither  shalt  thou  gather 
the  gleaning  of  thy  harvest  or  thy  vineyard,  thou  shalt  leave  them 
for  the  poor  and  for  the  stranger".  While  this  is  not  merely  a  bit 
of  kindly  counsel,  while  it  is  a  law,  it  is  quite  evident  it  is  one 
that  can  be  broadly  or  narrowly  construed  by  each  obedient  sub- 
ject. There  were  probably  some  very  small  corners  in  some 
fields  and  very  few  heads  of  wheat  after  the  regular  gleaning  in 
the  same  fields,  still  the  intent  of  the  law  is  clear,  and  the  pub- 
He  opinion  of  each  farmer  village  would  be  in  favor  of  its  liberal 
construction.  Here  also  a  gift  is  not  given  to  the  poor,  a  right 
is  acknowledged.  Here  also  the  poor  must  themselves  labor  for 
what  they  get,  they  must  reap  the  corners  and  glean  the  fields, 
industry,  thoroughness  and  frugality  on  their  part  are  cultivated 
by  the  law. 

The  third  element  in  this  great  peculiarity  of  the  Hebrew  land 
laws,  that  of  the  management  of  the  land  for  the  common  good 
of  all  the  people,  is  the  raising  of  taxes.  That  the  government 
of  any  country  is  for  the  common  good  of  all  the  people  is  a 
truism  in  America,  and  that  its  support  should  be  equally  dis- 
tributed among  the  people  is  also  admitted  by  all.  The  practical 
carrying  out  of  both  accepted  principles  is  however  very  difficult. 
Some  governments  In  the  history  of  the  race  seem  to  have  been 
administered  largely  for  the  benefit  of  particular  classes,  rather 
than  for  all  the  people,  and  in  some  ages  and  lands  taxation  for 
the  support  of  the  government  has  been  burdensome  if  not  crush- 
ing upon  special  classes,  and  light  upon  others.  It  is  alleged  even 
in  our  land  of  freedom  that  some  classes  get  far  more  from  the 
government  than  they  contribute  for  its  support,  and  some  far 
less,  and  various  theories  are  devised  to  equalize  both  benefits  and 
burdens. 

The  land  laws  of  the  Hebrews  aimed  at  the  common  good  of 
all  the  people  and  in  no  respect  more  so  than  in  the  raising  of 
taxes  for  the  support  of  the  government.  Modern  means  of  rais- 
ing taxes  sometimes  disguise  themselves,  as  in  the  indirect  taxa- 
tion of  consumption,  and  in  the  questionable  taxation  along  the 
line  of  Napoleon's  saying,  "Making  the  vices  of  the  people  pay  for 


220  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  government  they  tend  to  destroy".  The  Hebrew  laws  avoid 
all  these  ways  and  made  the  support  of  the  government  come  from 
the  production  of  the  land.  The  government  as  originally  estab- 
lished was  very  simple  and  inexpensive.  It  was  largely  tribal,  and 
the  elected  officers  of  thousands  and  hundreds  and  fifties  discharged 
their  duties  of  government  without  withdrawing  themselves  from 
the  ordinary  employments  of  life  and  without  salaries,  the  honor 
and  power  being  a  sufficient  compensation  for  the  time  and  care 
given.  But  there  was  always  a  binding  together  element  in  the 
government,  a  centralizing  force,  flexible  but  powerful.  There 
was  one  tribe  which  we  have  seen  had  no  lot  in  the  land  distribu- 
tion, was  forbidden  to  be  land  holders.  Being  exempt  from  the 
ordinar>'  duties  of  production  they  had  peculiar  duties  of  their  own, 
these  we  have  seen  were  duties  of  worship,  of  education  and  par- 
ticularly of  government,  "they  had  the  oversight  of  Israel  for 
every  matter  pertaining  to  God  and  the  affairs  of  the  king". 
While  God  was  acknowledged  as  the  only  King  the  position  of 
the  Levites  was  unquestioned.  When  David  was  king  he  ac- 
knowledged he  was  God's  viceroy  and  gave  them  the  same  position 
in  his  government.  Later  kings  introduced  their  own  followers 
and  favorites  more  extensively  into  offices  of  trust  and  power;  but 
the  Levites  always  remained  prominent  in  the  government. 

The  support  of  the  government,  the  raising  of  the  taxes  was 
by  the  system  of  tithes.  We  are  accustomed  to  think  of  these 
as  devoted  to  religious  purposes,  of  the  tithes  as  a  religious  offer- 
ing; but  the  whole  life  of  the  Hebrew  was  to  be  religious,  and  the 
government  was  a  large  part  of  religion  then  as  it  is  in  the  Chris- 
tian ideal  today.  A  great  deal  of  confusion  has  existed  not  only 
with  reference  to  the  purpose  of  the  tithes  but  as  to  the  number 
of  tithes;  that  which  was  very  familiar  to  the  Hebrews,  is  strange 
to  us  and  hard  to  understand.  There  are  several  enactments  about 
the  tithes,  all  of  them  supposing  the  familiarity  of  the  people  with 
the  whole  subject.  That  there  were  several  tithes — some  say 
three,  some  even  four  is  not  such  a  reasonable  conclusion  as  that 
there  was   but   one   tithe,   and    the   other   enactments   are  simply 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  221 

tithes  of  the  tithe.    The  following  seem  to  be  the  main  statements 
on  the  subject. 

"All  the  tithes  of  the  land  whether  of  the  seed  of  the  land  or 
of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  is  the  Lord's,  it  is  holy  unto  the  Lord". 
He  is  the  King,  He  has  given  the  land  to  the  people  by  lot,  this  is 
His  reservation  showing  the  final  title  is  in  Him,  and  that  He  rules. 

"Thou  shalt  surely  tithe  all  the  increase  of  thy  seed,  that  which 
Cometh  forth  of  the  field  year  by  year,  the  tithe  of  thy  corn,  of  thy 
wine,  of  thy  oil,  of  the  firstlings  of  thy  herd  and  of  thy  flock". 
You  shall  do  this  yourselves.  It  is  the  annual  increase  of  the 
ground  you  have  tilled  from  which  one  tenth  is  to  be  set  apart  as 
belonging  unto   the  Lord,   your  great  King. 

"Unto  the  Children  of  Levi  have  I  given  all  the  tithe  in  Israel 
in  return  for  the  service  which  they  serve."  The  service  they 
render  at  the  Tabernacle  and  Temple,  which  is  the  palace  of  the 
King.  The  service  they  render  in  the  cities  scattered  throughout 
Israel,  where  they  dwell  and  judge  and  instruct  the  people. 

"And  thou  shalt  say  before  the  Lord  thy  God  I  have  put  away 
the  hallowed  things  out  of  my  house,  and  have  given  them  unto 
the   Levite  according  to   thy   commandment." 

This  is  not  a  voluntary  offering,  which  I  commend  but  which 
may  be  made  or  omitted  as  you  choose,  it  is  a  command  and  must 
be  obeyed.  I  put  it  upon  your  conscience  and  you  are  to  make 
the  division  of  the  tenth  fairly  and  to  tell  me  solemnly  as  the 
King  who  knows  the  heart,  that  you  have  done  it.  From  this 
tithe  the  Levites  were  to  provide  a  tithe  for  the  priests,  a  tithe  for 
the  poor,  and  a  tithe  for  the  festivities  of  the  people.  That  a  whole 
tithe  of  the  whole  land  was  to  be  given  to  the  poor  would  indi- 
cate there  were  a  great  many  poor  and  would  foster  poverty,  when 
the  whole  policy  of  the  laws  was  to  reduce  poverty,  and  the  indi- 
cations are  there  were  very  few  poor  in  the  land  even  when  it 
had  a  large  population.  That  a  whole  tithe  of  all  the  land  should 
be  devoted  to  the  great  festivals  is  absurd.  The  festival  element 
in  the  social  life  was  a  large  one,  but  not  so  enormous. 

Four  tithes  would  have  made  an  excessive  burden,  nearly  one- 
half  of  the  product  of  each  year's  labor,  but  one-tenth  for  the  sup- 


222  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

port  of  the  government,  of  the  worship,  for  the  care  of  the  poor, 
for  the  religious  festivals,  and  for  providing  the  many  teachers  of 
a  large  educational  system,  was  a  light  tax  upon  the  resources 
of    the    people. 

This  provision  for  the  support  of  the  Levites,  a  most  useful 
class,  was  usurped  in  some  cases  as  the  prophet  said  it  would  be 
by  the  kings  the  people  demanded  to  rule  over  them,  and  was 
made  the  basis  of  further  and  new  systems  of  taxation.  The 
support  of  the  pomp  of  kings,  and  later  the  tribute  paid  to  vic- 
torious nations,  and  still  later  when  the  nation  became  subject  to 
other  nations  the  taxation  system  of  those  ruling  nations,  all  these 
were  added  burdens  the  people  brought  upon  themselves  by  want 
of  loyalty  to  God. 

The  system  God  gave  them  for  raising  taxes  for  the  support 
of  the  government,  like  the  other  elements  of  the  peculiar  land 
laws  of  the  Hebrews,  was  designed  for  the  common  good  of  all 
the  people.  The  Levites  were  not  a  privileged  class,  they  existed 
for  the  good  of  the  people,  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  duties 
would  greatly  promote  the  welfare  of  the  people,  and  their  sup- 
port was  provided  in  a  way  that  distributed  it  equally  among  all 
the  people,  from  the  increase  from  the  tilling  of  the  land. 

How  the  land  will  be  distributed  among  the  people  of  the  race 
when  the  whole  earth  is  the  Kingdom  of  God,  how  this  distribu- 
tion will  be  maintained  through  successive  generations  while  the 
Kingdom  of  God  flourishes  in  the  whole  earth,  and  how  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  glorious  time  will  be  supported,  we  of  course 
cannot  foresee.  That  the  land  in  the  universal  and  triumphant 
Kingdom  of  God  will  not  be  divided  altogether  according  to  the 
real  estate  laws  of  the  highest  Christian  civilization  of  today,  we  may 
acknowledge  without  question.  While  we  have  inherited  our  land 
laws,  while  they  have  been  a  growth  of  precedents  through  long 
history,  there  are  certain  manifest  evil  workings  and  injustices  in 
them  which  all  readily  acknowledge.  While  we  may  hold  our 
present  laws  the  best  practical  under  present  conditions,  no  one 
will  claim  they  are  absolutely  just  and  ideally  perfect.  We  may 
learn  much  for   their   improvement   from   the  land   laws  of  the 


LAND  LAWS  OF  THE  HEBREWS  223 

ancient  Hebrews  given  by  God  through  Moses.  That  the  land  in 
the  Kingdom  of  God  will  not  be  divided  according  to  the  laws  and 
practices  of  semi-christian  and  heathen  lands  will  be  really  admit- 
ted. Surely  not  like  Russia  and  Turkey  and  China.  That  the 
land  laws  given  by  God  through  Moses  may  not  be  as  well 
adapted  to  the  whole  earth  in  this  late  day  as  they  were  to  the 
land  of  Judea  in  that  early  time  is  quite  possible.  Still  that  was 
the  Kingdom  of  God  in  its  beginning  with  reference  to  the  divi- 
sion of  the  land  among  the  people.  It  is  quite  likely  that  the 
Kingdom  of  God  in  its  culmination  will  divide  the  land  among 
the  people  according  to  the  general  principles  of  that  early  divi- 
sion, though  not  according  to  all  its  details.  The  principle 
changes  not,  though  the  application  may  vary.  We  can  easily 
see  the  principle,  God  gives  the  land  to  the  people  equally.  He 
calls  upon  them  to  exercise  all  their  industry  and  skill  in  improving 
the  land,  and  he  provides  that  a  fair  chance  shall  be  long  continued 
to  all.  That  the  laws  will  provide  a  check  to  the  immoderate 
accumulation  of  great  estates  for  selfish  enjoyment  of  a  few,  and 
that  they  will  foster  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  all  the  land  for  the 
common  good,  thus  giving  proper  incentive  to  individual  initiative 
and  proper  reward  to  individual  skill  and  ability  may  be  easily 
seen.  In  the  Kingdom  of  God,  righteousness,  peace  and  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  highest  culture  and  prosperity  of  mankind 
will  extend  to  the  physical  basis  of  society,  the  division  of  the 
earth  itself  among  the  people.  The  principles  of  the  real  estate 
laws  will  promote  the  welfare  and  culture  of  all  the  people. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Institution  of  Industry. 

Our  modern  Institution  of  Industry  is  so  wide  and  complex, 
and  the  ancient  one  of  the  Hebrews  was  so  narrow  and  simple 
that  the  two  seem  at  first  glance  to  have  little  in  common.  It  is  a 
matter  of  the  application  of  principles  however  that  makes  the 
difference,  the  underlying  principles  are  very  much  the  same. 
Today  we  have  great  combinations  of  capital  and  great  combina- 
tions of  labor  negotiating  with  each  other  in  factory,  railroad  and 
mine.  In  that  day  we  see  the  small  farmer  negotiating  with  the 
single  laborer  for  the  work  of  the  farm.  What  is  the  need  of  and 
how  shall  each  regard  the  other  is  the  underlying  question,  the 
combination  and  the  location  are  incidental  matters. 

Industry  too  however  wide  and  complex  is  largely  based  upon 
farming,  is  a  development  from  the  farm.  An  early  settler  on  our 
western  prairies  located  his  quarter  section  on  the  bank  of  a  broad 
river.  The  surplus  of  his  farm  he  took  once  or  twice  a  year  a 
hundred  miles  back  to  the  nearest  town  and  exchanged  it  for 
needed  articles.  But  soon  other  settlers  came  and  some  wished  to 
cross  the  river  at  his  farm,  he  established  a  ferry,  a  wayside  inn, 
a  store,  a  shop,  sold  some  of  his  land  to  helpers,  became  a  small 
capitalist.  The  original  quarter  section  is  now  in  the  heart  of  a 
large  city — many  railroads  cross  the  river  by  a  bridge — there  is  a 
large  fleet  of  steamboats  on  the  river,  or  rather  was  a  few  years 
ago,  and  probably  will  be  in  a  few  years  again  when  water  ways 
will  be  required  to  supplement  the  railroads;  there  are  many  fac- 
tories using  large  quantities  of  wool  from  the  west,  of  cotton  from 
the  south,  even  of  spices  from  distant  islands  of  the  far  off  seas, 
there  are  great  quantities  of  coal  and  iron  and  copper  from  far  off 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  225 

mines,  and  there  are  multitudes  of  busy  workers  in  this  hustling 
city.  We  see  at  a  glance  the  development  from  farm  life,  and 
the  dependence  of  the  varied  industry  of  the  bustling  city  upon 
farms  and  mines  widely  scattered  over  the  earth. 

Industry  is  the  effort  of  man  to  supply  his  needs  from  the  earth 
itself,  he  must  live,  and  he  needs  bread  to  support  his  physical 
existence.  Soon  he  goes  farther  and  strives  to  supply  his  wants, 
he  needs  more  than  bread,  cannot  live  by  bread  alone  and  where 
the  line  is  crossed  from  needs  to  wants  is  hard  to  tell.  Industry 
in  civilized  life  is  largely  expended  for  wants  that  cannot  be 
classed  as  needs,  wants  they  are  and  craving  wants  of  some,  but 
surely  not  the  needs  of  all,  not  the  needs  of  humanity  to  make 
the  best  and  most  of  itself.  Moderation  of  wants  is  said  to  be  the 
true  wealth.  The  gratification  of  all  the  wants  man  can  develop 
has  brought  down  many  strong  men  and  even  strong  nations 
through  luxur}^  and  vice  into  degradation  and  ruin.  Before  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible,  the  society  gathered  about  the 
supernatural  revelation  of  God,  was  formed  man  was  given  the 
commission  to  change  his  environment,  to  cultivate  the  earth,  to 
labor  to  supply  his  needs. 

To  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  God  gave  through  Moses  y 
special  laws  directing  the  formation  and  exercise  of  the  institution 
of  industry.  These  laws  were  adapted  to  their  special  conditions 
in  that  early  day.  They  were  evidently  designed  to  check  certain 
evil  tendencies  in  their  social  nature,  tendencies  to  laziness,  to 
indifference  to  the  needs  of  others,  to  the  inordinate  cultivation  of 
wants,  tendencies  that  have  not  entirely  vanished  away  in  our  day; 
and  also  to  cultivate  certain  good  tendencies  in  the  social  nature, 
enterprise,  consideration  for  the  welfare  of  others,  and  self  and 
general  culture,  tendencies  that  happily  still  exist.  The  particular 
details  of  these  laws  may  not  be  adapted  to  present  conditions, 
but  their  principles  may  be  worth  our  attention,  and  may  also  be  / 
greatly  needed  to  the  establishment  of  righteousness  in  the  insti- 
tution of  industry  today.  This  is  surely  a  reasonable  presumption 
from  the  premise  that  these  laws  came  in  any  way  from  God,  that 


226  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

this  society  was  gathered  around  a  special  revelation  He  made  to 
them. 

The  Bible's  statement  of  man's  nature  and  mission  on  the  earth 
is  still  within  the  limits  of  the  attainment  and  achievement  of  the 
race.  God  commanded  him  to  replenish  and  subdue  the  earth 
H,  and  have  dominion  over  it,  and  this  command  is  written  in  man's 
nature  today  as  well  as  in  the  ancient  book.  Man  is  the  only 
being  who  can  till  the  ground,  who  can  subdue  the  earth,  and  all 
his  wonderful  achievements  in  changing  his  environment  can  still 
be  covered  by  that  simple  description. 

There  are  two  things  embraced  in  this  concise  and  enduring 
commission.  Industry  and  combination.  Man  is  a  social  being, 
as  such  the  race  is  to  subdue  the  earth  and  have  dominion  over  it. 
Each  individual  by  the  constitution  of  his  nature  and  the  condition 
of  his  environment  is  to  enter  the  system  of  industry  in  some  de- 
partment or  other.  Still  the  individual  alone  cannot  accomplish 
this  mission,  his  industry  must  be  associated  with  the  industry  of 
his  fellows,  there  must  be  a  system,  an  institution  of  industry.  To 
fill  his  commission  each  man  must  work  and  he  must  work  with 
his  fellow  workers  for  the  common  good.  By  this  industry  and 
combination  man  not  only  will  achieve  great  things  in  the  earth 
itself  but  he  will  attain  great  things  in  the  development  of  his 
own  nature.  Man  cannot  make  the  most  either  of  the  earth  or 
of  himself  by  laboring  or  enjoying  apart  from  his  fellows,  but  by 
combining  with  them.  The  development  of  the  social  nature  and 
the  fruitfulness  of  the  earth  are  interwoven  in  man's  peculiar 
power  to  change  his  environment.  While  all  this  is  evidently  em- 
braced in  the  general  commission  of  mankind  the  particular  enact- 
ment of  laws  and  the  establishment  of  customs  in  the  particular 
society  of  the  Bible  gathered  about  the  supernatural  revelation  of 
God,  show  how  God  sought  to  lead  and  develop  man  in  the  insti- 
tution of  industry.  This  particular  society  came  into  possession 
of  its  own  land  after  a  long  and  varied  experience  in  other  lands, 
and  bringing  with  it  many  of  the  practices  of  those  lands.  The 
land  of  Judea  was  a  small  land  but  it  supported  a  large  and  flour- 
ishing nation   during  many  centuries,   through   twelve  or  fifteen 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  227 

hundred  years.  In  the  time  of  Christ  Palestine  was  more  densely 
populated  than  any  modern  land.  For  much  the  greater  part  of 
its  long  history,  for  ten  out  of  its  fifteen  centuries  it  contained  a 
population  denser  per  square  mile  than  that  of  Belgium  today. 
A  land  not  quite  as  large  as  either  Belgium  or  Holland,  its  two 
kingdoms  in  the  time  of  Jehoshophat  and  Jeroboam  II  probably 
contained  a  population  as  large  as  the  combined  population  of 
Belgium  and  Holland.  The  populations  of  Belgium  and  Holland 
are  largely  supported  by  the  products  of  other  lands  exchanged 
for  their  manufactured  goods  and  the  profits  of  a  large  commerce, 
while  the  population  of  Palestine  was  supported  by  its  own  pro- 
ducts. It  was  not  a  particularly  fertile  land,  not  like  the  river 
valleys  of  the  earliest  civilization,  it  had  only  that  kind  of  fertility 
which  required  a  thorough  and  varied  cultivation  to  bring  it 
to  great  fruitfulness.  A  tourist  asked  a  farmer  along  the  road- 
side in  a  New  England  State  "What  can  you  raise  on  these  stony 
hills?"  "We  raise  men"  was  the  answer.  The  hills  of  Judea  not 
only  supported  a  large  population,  but  raised  men  who  have  given 
to  the  race  of  mankind  the  highest  ideals  of  righteousness  and  the 
noblest  religion  they  possess. 

The  first  feature  of  the  Hebrew  institution  of  industry  arises 
from  those  peculiarities  of  the  institution  of  the  family  and  of  the 
land  laws  we  have  considered  in  former  chapters.  The  land  of 
Judea  was  divided  into  many  small  estates  distributed  by  lot  to  all 
the  families  of  the  nation,  and  preserved  in  those  families  for  suc- 
ceeding generations.  Large  families  and  small  estates  combined  V 
to  foster  general  industr)'.  The  owner  of  a  large  estate  might 
become  a  mere  manager  or  an  idler,  and  a  part  of  his  estate 
might  become  idle  too,  but  the  head  of  a  large  family  on  a  small 
estate  must  be  a  wide  aAvake,  practical  farmer,  a  leader  of  the 
workers,  and  must  make  his  whole  estate  productive.  Small  estates 
to  support  large  families  must  be  worked  intensively,  and  this 
requires  incessant  care  and  many  hands.  Large  families  are 
needed  on  small  estates  to  make  the  most  of  them  for  the  general 
good.  So  many  rural  scenes  on  the  sacred  page  show  men, 
women   and   children  on   the  fields  and   in   the  vineyards.      The 


228  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

home  too  was  a  hive  of  industrj',  the  preparing  food,  the  spinning 
and  weaving  of  flax  and  wool  and  silk,  the  making  of  rugs,  and 
curtains  and  tapestry  as  well  as  garments,  required  labor  and  taste 
and  skill.  Some  farms  gave  a  surplus  of  wheat,  some  of  grapes 
or  olives,  and  some  of  milk  and  cheese.  Some  home-workers 
developed  particular  taste  and  skill  in  embroidered  linen,  others 
in  silken  tapestries,  and  frequently  these  developed  gifts  were 
handed  down  by  heredity  to  successive  generations,  and  now  and 
then  a  genius  in  such  fine  arts  arose.  Some  families  spun  the 
linen  and  silk,  others  wove  and  embroidered. 
i.  The  farmer  villages  provided  a  social  life  and  also  a  mart  of 
exchange.  There  were  many  cities  scattered  throughout  the  land. 
The  central  city,  and  the  clustered  villages  gave  opportunity  for 
the  exchange  of  the  surplus  of  the  farms  and  the  products  of  the 
homes.  Many  laborers  were  also  needed  to  devote  their  care  to 
the  collecting,  transporting,  and  exchanging  or  selling  products  of 
farm  and  home.  Many  also  in  village  and  city  were  needed  and 
devoted  their  labor  to  construction  and  repair  of  houses,  and  of 
such  tools  as  were  used.  The  system  of  every  family  having  a 
small  estate  did  not  foster  the  growth  of  an  idle  class,  but  made 
industry-  necessary  and  stimulated  it.  The  Levites  were  not  to 
hold  land,  but  they  were  to  be  busy  about  the  general  welfare  in 
the  important  matters  of  government,  worship  and  education. 
All  the  people  were  to  be  industrious,  to  labor  for  the  good  of  all. 
This  policy  fostered  the  dignity  of  labor  for  the  general  wellbeing 
of  society. 

Great  changes  came  from  within  and  from  without  during  the 
passage  of  the  centuries,  but  it  was  certainly  in  harmony  with  the 
original  policy  that  the  Christ  when  He  came  spent  much  of  His 
life  in  a  farmer  village,  and  labored  there  as  a  carpenter ;  and 
that  when  in  His  ministry  He  sought  to  prepare  special  men  to 
spread  His  teachings  and  carry  on  His  work.  He  chose  them  from 
such  places  and  employments;  and  that  one  of  His  ablest  fol- 
lowers though  himself  of  the  class  of  teachers,  should  labor  as  a 
tent  maker  to  support  himself,  and  should  wax  so  indignant  against 
idleness  that  he  said  "If  a  man  will  not  work  neither  let  him  eat." 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  229 

One  of  the  striking  characteristics  of  the  Hebrews  transmitted 
by  heredity  we  saw  was  the  business  capacity,  based  upon  the 
conviction  that  material  prosperity  came  from  the  Lord.  Time 
and  time  again  the  Lord  assured  the  people  their  land  would  be 
a  fruitful  one  by  His  blessing,  but  it  was  to  be  through  their 
obedience  to  Him.  We  have  grown  in  the  habit  of  tracing  all 
the  evil  that  befell  the  Hebrews  in  their  long  history  to  sin,  and 
not  to  trouble  ourselves  much  about  analysing  the  sin.  Perhaps 
we  have  carried  this  habit  of  thought  into  our  personal  affairs. 
Sin  has  become  a  very  indefinite  word,  it  covers  a  multiude  of 
sins.  We  have  grown  in  the  habit  of  thinking  that  the  obedience 
to  God  was  mainly,  almost  only  in  the  matter  of  worship,  to 
separate  worship  of  God  from  living  among  men,  the  Temple 
service  from  the  land  laws,  or  perhaps  to  ignore  the  land  laws 
altogether.  There  is  of  course  a  grievious  error  in  such  thinking. 
False  worship  or  no  worship  or  sincere  worship  can  never  be 
found  alone.  Prosperity  comes  not  only  from  true  worship  but 
from  earnest  industry,  both  are  obedience  to  God,  the  prosperity 
comes  from  Him  through  both.  God  through  these  laws  developed 
the  business  capacity  and  blessed  it.  Still  in  this  society  as  in  the 
whole  race  there  is  not  only  the  tendency  to  evolve  energetic  traits 
of  character,  prudence,  enterprise,  and  perseverance,  but  the  ten- 
dency to  deterioration  as  well,  to  laziness  and  wastefulness.  The 
policy  of  the  laws  was  to  provide  great  prosperity  and  to  dis- 
tribute it  generally  among  all  the  people  by  encouraging  industry 
among  all  the  people. 

While  the  land  owners  were  the  main  class  of  the  people  and 
generally  worked  their  own  small  estates  there  was  a  class  of  hired 
laborers,  also  a  class  of  slave  laborers  which  are  specially  treated 
in  the  laws.  Each  of  these  classes  was  very  small  and  the  whole 
policy  of  the  social  life  was  to  keep  them  small  and  to  eliminate 
them  entirely.  They  were  both  recruited  from  the  class  of  the 
poor,  and  we  saw  the  policy  of  the  land  laws  was  as  God  said: 
"that  there  shall  be  no  poor  with  thee  in  your  prosperous  land, 
if  you  observe  all  the  commandments  of  the  Lord".  Poverty 
which    is    fearfully    prevalent    in    Christian    lands    today    comes 


230  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

from  two  sources.  Social  conditions  and  individual  deficiencies. 
The  social  laws  of  the  Hebrews  were  to  so  form  social  conditions 
that  no  poverty  would  arise  from  that  source,  and  to  so  treat 
individual  deficiencies  that  in  the  coming  day  no  poverty  would 
come  from  that  source.  The  land  laws  with  small  estates  kept 
in  large  families,  and  the  provisions  made  to  stimulate  the  poor 
out  of  their  discouragement,  laziness  and  thriftlessness,  were  aimed 
at  both  sources  of  poverty.  This  general  aim  of  the  laws  could 
only  be  fully  realized  by  the  general  social  condition  attaining 
its  full  development  and  by  the  strict  obedience  to  the  spirit  and 
letter  of  the  laws  by  society  in  general,  and  by  every  individual 
in  society,  especially  by  every  individual  in  whom  the  tendency 
to  degenerate  was  at  all  strong.  It  would  be  a  long  process  requir- 
ing the  patience  of  God;  and  so  he  told  the  people,  "The  poor 
will  not  cease  out  of  the  land",  and  "If  there  be  with  thee  a  poor 
man,  one  of  thy  brethren,  within  any  of  the  gates  in  thy  land". 
There  may  be  a  few  such,  the  expression  evidently  contemplates 
that  there  shall  only  be  a  very  few.  "Beware  therefore  lest  there 
be  a  base  thought  in  thy  heart,  saying  let  him  take  care  of  him- 
self, the  seventh  year  will  make  it  all  right  again,"  "but  you 
shall  surely  open  thine  hand  to  thy  brother,  to  thy  needy  and  to 
thy  poor  in  the  land".  So  in  addition  to  the  requirements  of  the 
law,  the  love  of  brotherhood  was  enlisted,  remember  he  is  thy 
brother  and  give  him  all  the  help  you  can. 

y-  There  are  three  simple  things  quite  evident  in  the  hiring  of 
V  C;  labor,  in  the  relation  of  capital  and  labor,  in  the  social  life  of  the 
Hebrews.  The  first  is  the  relation  of  brotherhood.  The  separa- 
tion in  condition  so  far  as  land  and  money  went,  did  not  break 
the  relationship  they  held  to  each  other  and  to  God.  The  frequent 
use  of  the  word  brother  is  marked  in  all  the  laws;  even  the  king 
when  they  should  want  one,  must  be  a  brother. 

The  second  is  that  in  the  agreement  for  the  amount  of  wages  to 
be  paid  and  the  amount  of  labor  to  be  done  there  should  be  no 
oppression   of   the  weak   by   the   strong. 

The  third  is  that  the  wages  must  be  paid  promptly,  "in  his  day 
thou  shalt  give  him  his  hire,  let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  it." 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  231 

In  all  these  respects  the  weak  and  poor  must  have  no  occasion  to 
cry  unto  God  "lest  it  become  a  sin  to  thee".     Here  as  in  the  gen- 
eral subject  of  industry,  the  hiring  of  the  laborer  is  made  a  mat-'^ 
ter  of  religion,  a  part  of  worship,  ,/ 

The  prophets  are  righteously  indignant  against  any  transgression  ^ 
of  this  law  of  the  brotherhood  of  capital  and  labor.  Jeremiah, 
when  the  nation  was  tottering  to  its  fall  says  boldly  to  the 
unbrotherly  wealthy  men  of  his  day,  "Do  you  think  you  shall 
prosper  before  God,  because  you  dwell  in  great  houses  of  cedar. 
Your  fathers  did  justice,  they  judged  the  poor  and  needy,  and  it 
was  this  that  God  approved".  "Woe  to  him  that  buildeth  his 
house  by  unrighteousness,  that  useth  his  brother's  services  without 
wages,  that  giveth  him  not  his  hire".  Another  prophet  says  that 
God  gives  this  message  through  him,  "I  will  come  near  in  judg-  i 
ment  and  be  a  swift  witness  against  those  that  oppress  the  hireling 
in  his  wages."  That  this  law  of  brotherhood  holds  over  into  New 
Testament  times  is  seen  in  that  an  apostle  is  no  less  indignant  than 
a  prophet  at  its  violation,  "Behold  the  hire  of  the  laborers  who 
mowed  your  fields  which  is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud  crieth 
out,  and  the  cries  of  them  that  reaped  have  entered  into  the  ears 
of  the  Lord".  That  the  Christian  pulpit  does  not  frequently  utter 
the  same  indignant  rebuke  today,  is  no  criticism  of  the  law,  nor 
can  one  infer  from  the  silence  that  there  is  no  longer  any  oppres- 
sion of  the  laborer  by  those  who  hire  him  either  in  the  amount 
of  labor  demanded,  in  the  scale  of  wages  given,  or  in  the  prompt- 
ness and  fulness  of  the  payments  made.  The  law  could  be  strictly 
or  literally  construed,  but  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  was  to  care- 
fully guard  against  any  oppression  of  the  laborer. 

The  laws  of  the  Hebrews  discouraged  slavery  and  so  are  in 
broad  contrast  with  the  laws  of  other  ancient  nations  which  fos- 
tered it.  Slavery  was  a  very  small  feature  of  the  social  life  of 
the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  and  grew  constantly  smaller 
until  it  vanished  away.  The  history  of  the  Bible  gives  us  many 
scenes  of  the  life,  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people,  now  and 
then  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  slavery,  but  it  is  not  a  prominent  fea- 
ture of  the  background  of  striking  events.     What  we  do  see  is 

16 


232  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

far  different  from  scenes  in  other  ancient  lands,  there  are  no  slave 
markets,  slave  quarters,  families  torn  asunder,  women  sold  to 
'  shame,  we  do  not  hear  the  clank  of  chains,  the  crack  of  whips, 
the  cries  of  the  tortured,  the  curses  of  the  dying  against  the  blind 
cruelty  of  man.  The  prophets  who  do  not  hesitate  to  denounce 
particular  sins,  and  who  frequently  denounce  the  oppression  of 
the  hired  laborer,  have  little  to  say  about  the  abuses  of  slavery. 
We  may  infer  either  that  the  Hebrews  w'cre  good  masters,  or 
what  is  more  probable  that  there  was  little  slavery  existing.  The 
most  marked  instance  of  a  prophet's  speech  about  slavery  is  in 
the  time  of  the  last  king  of  Judah  when  the  prophet  denounces 
the  hypocrisy  of  the  people,  who,  to  secure  the  favor  of  God,  had 
freed  their  slaves  when  they  feared  the  capture  of  the  city,  and 
had  enslaved  them  again  when  the  enemy  had  departed ;  and  the 
prophet  denounced  the  sin  not  only,  but  the  enemy  returned  to 
triumph  over  the  sinners,  as  the  prophet  said  they  would  speedily 
do.  The  whole  incident  shows  that  the  slavery  itself  was  known 
to  be  wrong  in  God's  sight. 

The  Gospels  describe  Christ  in  his  relations  to  all  classes  of  the 
people,  his  teachings  abound  in  figures  of  speech  and  illustrations, 
his  parables  are  vivid  descriptions  of  scenes  about  him,  but  slavery 
seems  almost  to  have  vanished  away,  it  gives  hardly  a  line,  hardly 
a  shade  of  color  to  the  scene,  and  what  there  is  comes  from  Greece 
and  Rome. 

The  theory  that  slavery  grew  on  such  a  gigantic  scale  that  it 
was  the  main  element  in  the  downfall  of  the  great  civilizations 
of  Egypt  and  Babylon,  of  Greece  and  Rome,  only  makes  plain 
that  in  that  wide  desert  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man  there  was 
an  oasis  of  human  kindness  in  the  land  of  Judea.  The  policy  of 
the  social  development  of  the  Hebrews  as  seen  in  the  laws  of  God 
given  through  Moses  was  to  check  and  banish  slaver}^  from  their 
land. 

The  rise  and  growth  of  slavery  in  all  lands  and  ages  has  two 

sources,  one  the  captives  taken  in  war,  the  other  the  oppression 

of  the  weak  by  the  strong,  of  the  working  classes  by  the  wealthy. 

J  The  oppression  of  hiring  labor  grows  into  enslaving  labor.     The 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  233 

Hebrews  were  not  designed  by  God  to  be  a  warlike  people.  God 
checked  David's  ambition  to  be  a  world  conqueror  in  a  most  effec- 
tive way.  The  long  history  of  the  people  extending  through  many 
centuries  has  the  account  of  but  few  wars.  This  feature  of  their 
social  life  worthy  of  more  careful  study  in  another  place,  dis- 
couraged slavery  by  shutting  off  one  source  of  supply  of  slaves. 
The  land  laws  we  have  seen  fostered  small  estates,  discouraged  the 
formation  of  large  landed  estates,  the  growth  of  vast  wealth  in 
land  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  this  feature  also  discouraged  slavery. 
What  room  was  there  for  slaves  on  a  twenty  acre  farm,  owned 
by  a  large  family  and  which  must  support  that  family?  Slavery 
on  a  large  scale  cannot  exist  where  large  landed  estates  cannot 
exist.  The  laws  of  hiring  labor  we  have  just  considered  forbade 
the  oppression  of  the  laborer,  and  insisted  upon  a  brotherly  treat- 
ment of  the  poor  who  was  dependent  upon  his  daily  labor  for  his 
daily  bread.  This,  and  all  the  laws  aimed  to  alleviate  and  do 
away  with  poverty,  discouraged  slavery  by  shutting  off  the  other 
source  of  supply  of  slaves.  Still  the  Hebrews  coming  out  from  an 
early  condition  of  slavery  themselves,  and  surrounded  by  slavery 
in  other  nations  through  all  their  history,  and  having  the  average 
amount  of  human  nature  in  themselves,  a  nature  we  have  seen 
inclined  to  start  and  maintain  slavery,  would,  in  spite  of  the  dis- 
couraging features  of  their  laws  already  considered,  have  slavery 
to  some  extent  in  their  social  life. 

The  laws  of  God  given  through  Moses  further  discouraged 
slavery  in  several  striking  features.  Slaves  taken  in  war  were 
protected  from  abuse,  specified  acts  of  abuse  freed  them,  and  all 
such  abuse  as  made  their  life  oppressive  was  forbidden.  They 
were  regarded  as  members  of  the  family  and  shared  in  the  Sabbath 
rest  and  the  festival  occasions.  No  Hebrew  could  be  made  a  slave 
against  his  will,  stealing  and  selling  a  man  was  a  capital  crime. 
It  was  allowed  to  purchase  slaves  of  strangers  but  they  were 
protected  as  v/ere  the  captives  taken  in  war,  they  were  to  enter 
the  family  life,  they  might  be  circumcised  and  share  in  the  Sab- 
baths and  feasts.  If  they  were  abused  or  become  dissatisfied  and 
ran  away  no  one  was  allowed  to  return  them,  but  they  must  be 


234  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

treated  kindly.  So  all  these  involuntary  slaves  must  be  mercifully 
treated,  and  they  shared  in  religious  rights  and  their  children  w^ere 
born  free.  The  Israelite  was  not  divided,  as  other  ancient  people 
were,  into  two  great  classes,  the  free  and  the  slave.  Slavery 
existed  but  in  diminished  condition  compared  with  surrounding 
people,  and  with  ancient  Greeec  and  Rome.  There  does  not  exist 
the  large  class  of  born  slaves,  as  in  other  nations,  the  slavery  of 
succeeding  and  endless  generations.  The  Israelite  was  a  born 
freeman.  The  Hebrew  waxen  poor  could  sell  himself  as  a  slave, 
but  the  ownership  could  not  last  longer  than  six  years,  and  during 
these  six  years  the  bondsman  or  his  near  of  kin  could  redeem  him. 
He  could  not  be  sold  from  one  to  another.  He  chose  his  own 
master,  virtually  hired  out  for  a  term  of  years,  though  the  wage 
element  is  not  mentioned  it  embraced  simply  his  keeping,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  term  liberal  treatment.  When  freed  at  the  end 
of  the  six  years,  he  might  voluntarily  remain  for  life,  but  if  he 
left  he  must  be  well  provided  for  that  he  might  have  a  fair  start 
for  himself.  That  which  was  the  underlying  principle  in  the 
hiring  of  labor,  "thou  shalt  not  distress  thy  brother"  is  em- 
phatically stated  in  the  slavery  laws.  The  brotherhood  was  not 
broken  by  the  fact  that  one  was  so  poor  he  offered  to  become  one's 
slave.  The  law  of  God  through  Moses  provided  in  its  terms  the 
spirit  which  should  control  in  the  whole  relationship  to  its  end. 
"If  thy  brother  be  sold  to  thee  and  serve  thee  for  six  years,  in 
the  seventh  thou  shalt  let  him  go  free,  thou  shalt  not  let  him  go 
empty,  thou  shalt  provide  him  liberally."  The  spirit  running 
through  all  these  enactments  of  the  Institution  of  Industry  is 
that  of  brotherhood,  and  this  caused  slaverj^  that  flourished  so 
rankly  in  other  nationalities  to  dwindle  and  vanish  away  from  the 
social  condition  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible. 

It  was  the  same  spirit  of  brotherhood  made  more  clear  and 
powerful  now  by  both  master  and  slave  being  brothers  of  Christ, 
that  entered  the  universally  prevailing  relation  of  slavery  in 
Roman  and  Grecian  civilization  in  New  Testament  times,  and 
undermined  its,  until  that  time,  unquestioned  righteousness  and 
power.     A  runaway  slave  had  been  converted  to  Christ  under  the 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  235 

teaching  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  while  he  was  a  prisoner  in  Rome. 
By  one  of  those  romances  so  frequent  in  life  the  family  owning 
this  slave  had  become  an  eminent  and  devoted  Christian  famdy 
under  the  teaching  of  the  Apostle  at  Colossae,  while  on  one  of  his 
missionary  journeys.  In  harmony  with  the  principle  of  obedience 
to  law  Paul  persuaded  the  slave  to  go  back  to  his  master,  and  that 
he  might  be  well  received  sent  with  him  a  letter.  The  spirit  of 
this  letter  is  destructive  of  slavery.  Paul  calls  the  slave  his 
beloved  child,  a  brother  in  Christ,  and  urges  that  he  be  received 
back  no  longer  as  a  slave  but  more  than  a  slave,  a  brother  beloved 
in  the  Lord.  Without  directly  attacking  the  institution  so  fully 
and  firmly  established  in  society,  without  endangering  society  itself 
by  stirring  up  a  spirit  of  rebellion,  the  relationship  of  brotherhood 
of  both  master  and  slave  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  introduced 
into  the  institution,  caused  it  to  dwindle  and  vanish  away  wherever 
Christianity  gained  the  control  of  society. 

That  the  whole  institution  of  industry  should  as  far  as  pos-      ^.^  ^ 
sible  come  to  a  full  rest  one  day  in  every  seven,  was  an  estab- 
lished law  of  the  Hebrews.     The  whale  land  was  a  busy  hive  of 
industry,  for  six  days  on  farm,  in  home,  in  shop.     Leisure  classes 
were  not  encouraged.     "Six  days  shalt  thou  labor  and  do  all  thy 
work".     Each  one  was  commanded  to  have  something  to  do  and 
to  do  it.     Then  came  the  day  of  rest,  every  one  was  commanded 
to  rest.     The  lesson  is  plain.     Man  is  separate  and  distinct  from 
his  work,  cannot  be  identified  with  it,  he  may  lay  it  aside,  may 
rest  from  it.     The  higher  religious  meaning  belongs  to  another 
place.     Here  the  economic  view  of  the  rest  must  be  considered 
alone.    The  rest  is  in  order  to  work.    The  man  whether  the  owner 
of  the  farm,  the  hired  laborer  or  the  slave,  needs  the  rest.     He 
recruits  his  physical  strength,  he  restores  his  spirits,  is  invigorated, 
enlivened  by  rest.     An  incessant  daily  grind  wears  him  out.     A 
weekly  recurring  rest  harbors  and  renews  his  strength  and  spirit. 
He  can  do  more  and  better  work  by  the  weekly  rest.     Students 
of  this  special  subject  say  this  is  a  wise  provision  of  the  Hebrew 
Law.    This  view  seems  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  Sabbath  keep- 
ing lands  are  generally  prosperous  lands.    The  reverse  side  of  the 


236  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

truth  is  also  valuable.  Industry  is  needed  for  rest,  work  six  days 
that  you  may  have  the  chance  and  opportunity  to  rest.  Life  is 
not  all  work.  Industry  is  not  everything.  Rest,  opportunity  for 
something  higher  and  better  than  material  prosperity  is  itself  a 
valuable  asset.  Perhaps  Americans  as  much  as  any  class  in  the 
world  need  the  incentive  in  the  direction  of  rest,  need  the  insistence 
of  the  law  of  God  given  by  Moses  that  rest  is  a  valuable  element 
in  the  institution  of  industry. 

All  that  we  cover  in  modern  times  with  the  name  of  business 
belongs  to  the  institution  of  industry.  Many  of  our  business 
men  are  proud  of  the  title  Captains  of  Industry,  and  they  deserve 
it,  with  much  of  the  great  quality  of  leadership  and  with  some  of 
the  spirit  of  warfare  it  implies.  The  raising  of  the  products  of 
the  earth  from  field  and  mine  is  but  the  beginning,  the  manufacture 
of  these  products  into  needed  forms  and  combinations,  their  trans- 
portation to  markets  of  trade,  their  buying  and  selling  with  the 
buying  and  selling  of  the  implements  and  agencies  of  making  and 
distributing  them  are  all  important  parts  of  business  and  industry. 

The  whole  system  today  is  vast  and  complicated,  in  the  begin- 
ning and  growth  of  the  Hebrew  nation  it  was  in  its  rudimentary 
form.  The  laws  of  God  given  by  Moses  had  much  to  do  with 
business  in  the  rudimentary  stage,  and  however  much  it  may  have 
grown  until  it  is  world  wide,  and  however  much  it  may  have 
evolved  from  simple  to  complex  forms,  it  is  a  fair  presumption 
that  it  has  not  evolved  beyond  God's  thought,  or  beyond  the  need 
of  His  laws,  beyond  the  principles  of  the  relationship  of  man  to  his 
fellow  man   in   God's  sight. 

There  are  many  enactments  concerning  the  conduct  of  busi- 
ness. Their  large  number  and  great  variety  endeavored  to  check 
the  strong  tendency  to  wrong  doing  in  business  transactions  and 
the  shrewdness  in  devising  ways  to  accomplish  it.  It  is  said  that 
in  the  lower  departments  of  business  today  in  the  crowded  tene- 
ment districts  of  our  great  cities,  there  is  large  use  of  short  weights 
and  measures.  It  is  even  alleged  that  it  is  not  confined  to  such 
districts.  This  is  not  a  modern  invention,  the  laws  of  the 
Hebrews  prohibited  false  weights  and  measures,  and  the  prophets 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  237 

denounced  their  use  as  a  peculiar  abomination  to  the  Lord.  Money, 
the  medium  of  exchange,  was  always  to  be  of  the  right  standard. 
There  was  to  be  no  deceit  practiced,  no  advantage  taken  of  the 
ignorance  or  need  of  a  brother.  The  details  are  so  many  that 
they  cannot  well  be  counted  or  even  classified  in  our  necessarily 
brief  consideration  of  the  subject.  There  is  however  one  important 
law  which  covers  all  the  rest,  and  whose  spirit  runs  through  the 
minutest  details  of  business. 

It  is  popularly  assumed  that  the  summary  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments was  made  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  He  rather  adopted 
it  from  Moses,  and  one  part  of  it  from  the  laws  of  God  given 
through  Moses.  The  first  part  of  the  summary,  "Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul  and 
with  all  thy  might",  is  found  in  the  first  oration  of  Moses  to  the 
people  on  the  plains  of  Moab,  it  is  an  absolutely  correct  summary, 
but  it  was  made  by  Moses.  The  second  part  of  that  great  gen- 
eralization is  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself".  This  sec- 
ond part  was  made  by  God  himself  as  part  of  the  laws  he  gave 
the  people  through  Moses,  it  is  not  found  in  the  speech  of  Moses, 
but  in  the  civil  laws  of  the  Hebrews.  A  still  more  striking  truth 
to  our  modern  business  spirit  is  that  this  law  of  God  given  by 
Moses,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself",  is  given  in 
connection  with  and  as  a  part  of  the  laws  regulating  business. 
We  sometimes  engrave  it  upon  our  church  walls,  and  it  is  surely 
appropriate  there,  in  our  worship,  in  our  Christian  fellowship,  in 
our  domestic  and  social  life  we  acknowledge,  it  is  good  law.  If 
we  followed  the  example  of  Moses  we  would  startle  the  busi- 
ness world,  with  what  many  would  regard  an  intrusion  and  some 
a  desecration,  we  would  engrave  this  law  on  the  walls  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  we  would  illuminate  it  as  the  most? 
prominent  rule  of  the  Stock  Exchange.  Regarding  it  as  we  must 
in  connection  with  other  laws,  as  given  by  God  through  Moses,  it 
is  evident  that  He  designed  that  this  law  should  control  business, 
the  rudimentary'  business  in  the  time  of  Moses,  and  this  vast  and 
complicated  business  that  has  evolved  from  it  in  our  day,  but  which 
has  not  evolved  beyond   His  design.     The  statement  frequently 


238  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

heard  "that  business  is  business  and  religion  is  religion,  they  cannot 
mingle",  finds  no  sanction  in  the  Bible,  is  the  direct  opposite  of 
its  whole  teaching  and  spirit,  is  opposed  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of 
the  law  of  God. 

There  is  a  proper  love  of  oneself,  each  one  is  made  in  God's 
likeness,  is  his  child,  and  should  value  himself  aright,  but  for 
that  very  reason  and  to  that  degree,  he  should  love  his  neighbor 
as  himself,  this  extends  to  all  business  transactions.  Take  care 
of  your  own  interests,  and  make  that  a  standard  for  caring  for 
the  interests  of  your  neighbor,  this  is  God's  law  of  business.  We 
are  forced  to  acknowledge  that  even  in  business  the  law  appeals 
to  our  conscience,  it  is  a  good  law.  This  law  runs  through  all 
the  particular  enactments.  "Ye  shall  not  steal,  nor  deal  falsely, 
nor  lie,  nor  swear  falsely  by  my  name,  nor  oppress,  nor  rob,  nor 
curse  the  deaf,  nor  trip  up  the  blind,  nor  take  vengeance,  nor  bear 
a  grudge,  nor  be  a  tale  bearer,  but  in  righteousness  shalt  thou  deal 
with  thy  neighbor".  All  very  good  for  the  ancient  Hebrews; 
but  just  as  good  for  store  and  factory,  railroad  and  steamship, 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Stock  Exchange  today.  This  law  is 
the  summary  of  the  second  table  of  the  Ten  Commandments  and 
it  was  made  by  God  himself,  and  the  application  to  business  fol- 
lows naturally,  but  "lest  we  forget"  or  worse  yet,  should 
evade  it,  God  through  Moses  makes  it  apply  directly  and  emphat- 
ically to  all  business  matters. 

As  the  centuries  passed  by  there  were  many  breakers  of  this  law 
in  this  prosperous  land,  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey, 
and  many  accumulated  fortunes  by  breaking  the  law,  but  their  suc- 
cess though  often  great  did  not  blind  the  eyes  nor  silence  the 
tongues  of  the  prophets.  Those  bold  preachers  of  righteousness 
taught  that  such  apparent  prosperity  was  hollow,  that  breaking 
God's  law  would  eventually  bring  disaster,  and  that  those  who 
disobeyed  not  only  but  the  society  which  allowed  it,  and  in  its 
public  opinion  even  applauded  it,  would  together  be  punished  by 
the  just  God.  The  punishment  was  not  all  attributed  vaguely 
to  general  sin,  but  they  specified  special  sins,  sins  of  business. 

Amos  coming  from  the  southern  kingdom  had  a  difficult  task  to 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  239 

win  a  hearing  in  proud  Samaria,  the  rival  of  Jerusalem  in  luxur- 
ious living.  The  first  tw^o  chapters  of  his  book  are  a  masterpiece 
of  oratory,  one  of  the  finest  introductions,  if  not  the  finest,  in  the 
vrhole  history  of  oratory.  But  having  won  a  hearing  his  righteous 
soul  burned  within  him  and  he  held  his  audience  by  the  very 
strength  of  his  indignation.  "Ye  lie  upon  beds  of  ivory,  stretch 
yourselves  upon  couches,  ye  sing  idle  songs,  ye  drink  wine  in 
bowls,  ye  anoint  yourselves  with  chief  ointments.  I  despise  your 
feasts,  saith  the  Lord.  Take  away  from  me  the  noise  of  your 
songs.  I  will  not  hear  the  melody  of  your  viols.  Ye  swallow  up 
the  needy,  ye  cause  the  poor  of  the  land  to  fail,  ye  trample  upon 
them,  ye  take  exactions  of  their  wheat,  ye  make  the  ephah  small 
and  the  shekle  great  and  deal  falsely  with  the  balances  of  deceit, 
ye  sell  the  refuse  of  the  wheat,  ye  afflict  the  just,  ye  take  a  bribe, 
ye  turn  aside  the  needy.  Therefore  I  will  cause  you  to  go  into 
captivity   beyond    Damascus". 

It  was  no  better  in  Jerusalem.  About  the  same  time  Amos  was 
preaching  in  Samaria,  Micah  preached  righteousness  in  Jerusalem. 
He  had  lived  west  of  the  City  where  the  hills  sloped  off  to  the 
Great  Sea  and  his  heart  had  waxed  hot  within  him  as  he  saw  the 
princes  and  the  rich  men  grab  the  small  estates  to  form  their 
princely  domains.  When  he  came  to  the  City,  the  Holy  City,  the 
great  capital  with  his  complaints,  he  found  matters  there  still  worse 
than  in  his  country  home.  "Your  rich  men  are  full  of  violence, 
they  have  spoken  lies,  their  tongue  is  deceitful  in  their  mouths, 
therefore  I  will  make  them  desolate  because  of  their  sins.  There 
is  none  upright,  they  hunt  every  man  his  brother  with  a  net.  Ye 
have  the  treasures  of  wickedness,  the  scant  measure  which  is 
abominable,  the  wicked  balances,  the  deceitful  weights.  Ye  build 
up  Jerusalem  with  iniquity.  Therefore  shall  Zion  for  your  sake 
be  plowed  as  a  field,  saith  the  Lord".  There  was  little  possibility 
of  evading  such  preaching,  it  was  sharply  directed  to  the  conduct 
of  business,  and  the  greater  the  success  the  stronger  the  denuncia- 
tion.    And  the  preachers  had  the  law  of  God  back  of  them. 

Isaiah,   one  of  the  princes,   the  polished  orator,   the   Wendell 
Phillips  of  his  day,  was  a  stem  preacher  of  righteousness;  though 


240  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

we  are  accustomed  to  think  of  him  almost  entirely  as  the  evangeli- 
cal prophet,  we  will  have  to  go  far  to  find  a  keener  sword  driven 
more  closely  to  the  heart  of  business  wrong  doing.  "Woe  unto 
them  that  decree  unrighteous  decrees,  that  turn  aside  the  needy 
from  judgment,  that  take  away  the  right  of  the  poor,  that  make 
the  fatherless  their  prey  and  widows  their  spoil.  The  Lord  will 
enter  into  judgment  with  the  princes,  the  spoil  of  the  poor  is  in 
your  houses,  no  man  spareth  his  brother,"  Crowds  assembled  to 
hear  him  whenever  he  spoke  in  the  Temple  Courts,  his  eloquence 
stirred  the  hearts  of  the  guilty  as  well  as  pictured  in  glowing 
colors  the  golden  age  of  the  coming  Messiah. 

V  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  not  only  gave  this  summary  of  the 
second  table  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  but  he  taught  the  Gold- 
en Rule.  "All  things  therefore  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  unto  you  even  so  do  ye  also  unto  them,  for  this  is  the 
law  and  the  prophets".  The  "therefore"  refers  to  Christ's  teach- 
ing that  God  is  the  great  and  glorious  giver  of  all  good  things. 
Therefore  we  are  to  be  like  Him  and  show  this  in  our  treatment 
of  our  fellow  men.  His  saying  "The  law  and  the  prophets"  in 
the  general  usage  of  his  day  was  about  the  equivalent  of  "the 
Bible"  in  our  usage.  So  Christ  virtually  says.  The  strong  faith 
in  God  brings  one  into  likeness  to  Him  and  results  in  the  Golden 
Rule,  which  is  "the  Bible".  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  of 
any  stronger  way,  in  which  Christ  could  have  shown  his  view  of 
the  utmost  importance  of  this  rule.  The  Golden  Rule  is  simply 
Christ's  practical  and  strikingly  clear  direction  of  the  way  in 
which  the  law,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself"  is  to 
crystalize  itself  into  the  acts  of  our  daily  life.  It  is  His  condensa- 
tion and  way  of  putting  the  second  table  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, it  is  obedience  to  God  that  discharges  duties  to  man,  it  ful- 
fills the  whole  law,  it  is  "the  Bible".  The  preaching  of  the 
apostles  likewise  enforced  the  law  of  love.  James  says:  "If  ye 
fulfill  the  royal  law,  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,  ye  do 
well".  John  says:  "He  that  saith  he  is  in  the  light  and  hateth 
his  brother  is  in  darkness  even  until  now".  Peter  says:  "Let  none 
of  you  sufFer  as  a  murderer  or  as  a  thief  or  as  an  evil  doer".     Paul 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  241 

says:  "Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbors,  therefore  love  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  law."  '"If  ye  love  not  your  brother  whom  you 
have  seen  how  can  ye  love  God  whom  ye  have  not  seen"  is  as  true 
today  as  when  first  written.  The  man  who  thinks  he  loves  God 
and  in  his  business  takes  advantage  of  his  fellow  man,  his  brother, 
is  evidently  fooling  himself,  the  love  of  God  is  not  in  him. 

I  recently  asked  an  association  of  ministers  in  New  York  City 
if  any  of  them  had  ever  preached  a  sermon  on  the  Golden  Rule 
in  its  application  to  the  conduct  of  business.  None  of  them  had 
ever  done  so.  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  this  was  an  excep- 
tional body  of  ministers.  I  have  frequently  looked  over  the  topics 
of  sermons  for  the  next  Sunday  published  in  the  Saturday  New 
York  papers,  but  I  have  never  seen  "The  Golden  Rule  in  its  appli- 
cation to  business"  in  such  lists.  The  novelty  of  such  a  title 
would  awaken  much  interest.  I  have  asked  many  intelligent  and 
regular  attendants  upon  Church  services  whether  they  had  ever 
heard  a  sermon  upon  that  subject,  and  much  to  their  surprise  as 
well  as  to  mine  they  could  only  answer  that  they  never  had.  I 
received  a  further  surprise  when  I  looked  over  my  own  record  of 
sermons,  of  the  over  three  thousand  sermons  I  have  preached  I 
have  only  three  upon  the  Golden  Rule.  I  have  looked  up  the 
sketches  of  these  three  sermons  and  found  to  my  further  surprise 
that  I  had  applied  the  Golden  Rule  mainly  to  the  family,  the 
social  and  the  church  life,  and  but  little,  hardly  at  all,  to  the 
business  life.  In  the  further  investigation  of  this  question  I  then 
turned  to  the  published  sermons  of  the  eminent  preachers  of  the 
past  centurj^  and  of  today.  Of  course  I  could  not  examine  them 
all  but  I  spent  a  little  time  in  looking  over  the  subjects  of  perhaps 
thirty  volumes  of  the  great  masters  as  Robertson,  Beecher,  Brooks, 
McClaren,  Parker  of  the  recent  past,  Edwards,  Davies,  Emmons, 
Hall  of  the  more  remote  past,  and  Morgan,  Campbell.  Parkhurst, 
Hillis  and  Burrell  of  today.  In  all  these  thirty  books  of  great  ser- 
mons I  found  only  one  upon  the  Golden  Rule,  and  that  was  not 
especially  applied  to  the  conduct  of  business.  The  conclusion  is 
certainly  fair  that  the  neglect  of  the  Golden  Rule  has  characterized 


242  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  preaching  of  the  last  one  hundred  years,  and  characterizes  it 
today. 

This  neglect  is  certainly  condemned  by  the  practice  of  Bible 
preachers,  of  prophets  and  apostles  and  especially  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  himself.  This  neglect  can  only  be  justified  by  such 
preaching  being  no  longer  needed,  by  the  standard  and  practice 
of  modern  business  being  already  a  fulfillment  of  the  Golden  Rule. 
On  the  contrary  we  often  hear  that  the  Golden  Rule  cannot  be 
carried  out  in  business,  that  it  is  visionary  and  impractical.  That 
business  is  sharp  competition,  "Do  others  before  they  get  a  chance 
to  do  you",  and  that  it  is  becoming  more  fierce  as  the  years  go  by. 
Even  those  who  take  the  sane  view  that  business  to  be  successful 
must  be  a  service  of  the  public,  as  providing  railroad  transporta- 
tion, steel  for  the  many  uses  of  a  high  civilization,  oil  for  illumin- 
ating the  homes  of  the  people,  even  these  men  in  building  up  these 
great  enterprises  often  apply  the  Golden  Rule  to  the  far  off  vision- 
ary masses  and  reverse  it  with  ruthless  cruelty  to  their  nearby 
flesh  and  blood  competitors.  The  betrayal  of  even  Life  Insurance 
Trusts,  the  development  of  monopolies  even  in  providing  food, 
the  corrupt  purchase  and  use  of  public  utilities,  the  growth  of 
immense  fortunes  by  selling  watered  stock  to  the  deceived  public, 
corporate  morals  and  practices  utterly  unchristian  though  the 
board  of  directors  may  be  wholly  Christian  in  name,  these  things 
together  with  the  prevalence  of  deep  poverty  in  our  rich  land,  and 
the  prevalence  of  strikes  and  lockouts  oftentimes  in  the  spirit  of 
savage  warfare,  all  these  things  are  known  to  us  all,  and  show 
that  on  a  large  scale  the  conduct  of  business  is  the  reverse  of  the 
fulfillment  of  the  Golden  Rule. 

Christian  men  are  not  checked  by  their  religion  from  adopting 
unchristian  standards  in  business.  Everything  seems  to  be  justi- 
fied, deceit,  cruelty,  all  selfish  grasping,  if  the  success  is  only  large 
and   showy. 

By  failing  to  preach  the  Golden  Rule  we  are  in  silence  helping 
the  growth  of  strife  and  hatred.  That  which  is  ignored  by  the 
preachers  is  likely  to  be  regarded  of  little  importance  by  the 
people.    Our  silence  allows  the  world  to  hold  that  Christ's  religion 


INSTITUTION  OF  INDUSTRY  243 

is  unable  to  rule  in  that  large  department  of  life  we  call  business. 
The  lamentable  conditions  so  prominent  in  the  business  world 
today  may  be  attributed  to  some  extent  at  least  to  the  culpable 
silence  of  the  Christian  pulpit  on  the  Golden  Rule.  The  preacher 
of  the  Gospel  is  not  leaving  his  high  calling,  is  not  intruding  where 
he  has  no  call,  is  not  going  away  from  his  special  studies  into 
regions  where  he  can  have  no  knowledge  of  any  value,  is  not 
showing  how  little  he  appreciates  the  circumstances  and  how  little 
force  he  has,  when  he  preaches  righteousness  in  the  marts  of  com- 
merce, the  law  of  love  in  the  stock  exchange.  There  is  no  great 
department  of  human  life  where  the  gospel  ought  not  to  go,  where 
the  preacher  of  righteousness  ought  to  keep  silence.  If  the  Golden 
Rule  is  to  be  preached  at  all  in  these  modern  days  when  so  much 
of  our  life  is  devoted  to  business,  it  must  be  preached  specially  in 
its  application  to  the  conduct  of  business. 

It  may  be  and  should  be  preached  in  its  full  demands  so  clearly, 
frequently  and  forcefully  that  it  will  have  its  three  divinely 
designed   effects. 

First,  that  it  will  awaken  conviction  of  sin.  Many  a  man  relies 
today  upon  his  morality  for  his  salvation  because  the  standard  of 
morality  in  business  is  so  low.  If  Christ's  standard  is  faithfully 
applied  to  such  a  man's  conscience  he  cannot  help  approving  it, 
and  his  candid  examination  of  his  life  will  show  him  how  far 
short  he  falls  of  it.  Such  an  one  will  be  convinced  of  his  sin  of 
unbelief  in  Christ  in  that  he  has  not  adopted  and  lived  up  to  His 
standard.  He  will  be  convinced  of  his  sin  against  God  the 
unseen,  by  recognizing  his  sin  against  his  brother  whom  he  has 
seen,  by  his  taking  the  advantage  of  him,  by  his  crushing,  wrong- 
ing, defrauding  his  brother  in  his  conduct  of  his  business  with 
him.  He  will  recognize  that  in  wronging  man  he  has  wronged 
God,  the  Father  and  Savior  of  man.  We  preachers  of  the  Gos- 
pel should  no  longer  fail  to  use  this  most  effective  means  of 
awakening  conviction  of  sin. 

In  the  second  place  such  preaching  upon  the  Golden  Rule  will 
show  what  faith  in  Christ  is  in  the  conduct  of  business.  If  we 
believe  in  Christ  to  the  salvation  of  our  souls  from  sin,  if  we  have 


244  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

gratitude  to  Him  for  His  blood  bought  salvation,  we  will  make 
His  commandments  the  rule  of  our  lives.  Anything  short  of  this, 
however  much  of  knowledge  and  acceptance  of  great  truths,  how- 
ever much  of  observance  of  religious  ceremonies  there  may  be  in 
it,  anything  short  of  this  obedience  to  Him  is  after  all  far  short 
of  saving  faith  in  Him.  If  this  is  faithfully  preached  there  will 
be  less  opportunity  of  self  deception  and  of  that  remarkable  blind- 
ness and  walking  in  darkness  of  wide  awake  Christian  business 
men  which  has  recently  astounded  the  world. 

In  the  third  place,  such  preaching  upon  the  Golden  Rule  will 
place  before  the  Church  of  Christ  and  before  the  awakening  world 
the  glorious  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  When  the  Kingdom 
of  God  shall  be  established  in  the  whole  earth  not  only  will  the 
curses  of  sin  against  God  give  place  to  the  praises  of  loyalty  to 
Him,  but  the  wrongs  of  man  against  his  fellow  man  will  give 
place  to  the  loving  service  of  brothers.  In  the  Kingdom  of  God 
business  will  be  conducted  according  to  the  Golden  Rule. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Accumulation  and  Distribution  of  Wealth. 

The  original  commission  God  gave  to  the  race  of  man  to  sub- 
due the  earth  and  have  dominion  over  it  would  secure  to  them 
through  their  obedience  the  possession  of  wealth.  Their  work 
was  to  be  social,  no  man  could  subdue  the  earth  alone,  it  was  only 
possible  by  combined  effort.  The  God  given  power  to  man  dis- 
tinguishing him  from  all  other  races  of  life  was  the  ability  to 
change  his  environment,  this  could  only  be  accomplished  by  com- 
bined effort,  that  is  by  the  social  element  in  the  race,  and  changed 
environment  is  wealth.  The  principle  of  evolution,  uniting  man 
with  the  whole  creation,  making  him  no  exception  but  rather  the 
culmination  of  the  long  progression,  gave  to  him  that  which  was 
present  in  small  degree  in  the  lower  grades  of  life,  but  which  was 
to  be  his  crowning  power  and  to  control  his  life,  the  principle  of 
love  of  his  kind.  The  struggle  for  existence  shot  through  with 
love  of  kind  was  to  be  the  struggle  of  the  race  for  human  welfare, 
and  this  would  result  in  wealth,  the  accumulation  of  the  results 
of  the  struggle  made  by  one  generation  for  all  succeeding  gen- 
erations. When  God  through  a  further  revelation  of  Himself 
gathered  a  particular  society  about  Himself,  one  of  the  concep- 
tions of  that  society  was  that  large  material  prosperity  would  be  ^ 
theirs  from  their  loyalty  to  God.  When  that  society  came  into 
possession  of  their  God  given  land  their  obedience  to  the  laws  of 
God  given  to  them  through  Moses,  secured  to  them  vast  wealth, 
great  material  prosperity.  Now  for  many  centuries  the  Jews  have 
been  scattered  through  many  nations,  they  have  been  preserved 
in  race  purity,  this  is  their  main  characteristic,  another  is  that 
though  frowned  upon   by  law  and  public  opinion,   though  often 


246  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

persecuted  and  cast  out  with  cruelty  and  great  hardship,  they 
have  always  had  wealth,  they  have  been  "lenders  and  not  bor- 
rowers" as  Moses  foretold,  and  though  a  small  race  compara- 
tively today,  they  are  still  a  very  rich  race,  the  bankers,  the  money 
lenders  still  in  all  lands. 

The  particular  society  of  the  Bible  gathered  around  a  super- 
natural revelation  of  God  has  now  for  nearly  twenty  centuries 
been  spreading  in  all  the  earth  until  some  nations  of  the  world 
can  well  be  called  Christian.  The  remarkable  fact  in  this  line  is 
that  these  Christian  nations  are  the  wealthy  nations  of  the  world, 
and  the  more  Christian  they  are,  the  more  wealthy  they  are. 
Gladstone  said  a  few  years  before  he  died  that  more  wealth  had 
been  accumulated  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  more  material 
riches  that  could  be  handed  down  from  one  generation  to  another, 
than  in  all  the  centuries  that  had  gone  before  in  the  history  of  the 
race.  This  vast  accumulation  has  been  almost  entirely  made  in 
Christian  lands. 

There  is  of  course  a  great  principle  running  through  these 
seven  or  eight  statements  which  accounts  for  them,  makes  them 
a  class  of  their  own  kind.  Following  it  out  into  the  future  one 
does  not  need  to  be  a  prophet,  to  have  any  special  revelation  of 
God's  will,  to  predict  that  when  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  estab- 
lished in  all  the  earth  there  will  be  an  accumulation  of  wealth  in 
all  lands  and  climes  such  as  we  can  hardly  dream  of  today.  It  is 
easy  to  recognize  that  this  great  principle  is  the  social  nature  of 
man,  and  that  the  clearest  statement  of  it  is  in  the  law  of  God 
given  through  Moses  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself", 
and  that  the  Golden  Rule  of  Christ,  which  some  wise  men  have 
declared  impractical  in  business  is  to  the  degree  in  which  it  has 
been  carried  out,  the  source  of  the  wealth  of  the  world,  especially 
of  the  wealth  of  Christian  lands,  and  that  when  it  is  fully  carried 
out  it  will  be  the  source  of  the  stupendous  accumulation  of  wealth 
which  will  characterize  the  Kingdom  of  God.  We  have  just  con- 
sidered some  of  the  special  laws  of  the  Hebrews  when  they  formed 
a  distinct  nation  and  were  in  possession  of  their  own  land.  These 
laws  had  for  their  policy  evidently  not  only  the  accumulation  of 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  247 

wealth  but  the  distribution  of  it  as  well.  We  recognize  how  the 
race  working  together,  and  in  proportion  as  they  work  together 
accumulate  wealth,  that  industry,  persistent  and  intelligent,  and 
co-operation,  widespread  and  hearty,  form  the  power  of  chang- 
ing environment  in  all  lands  and  climes ;  and  changed  environment 
is  wealth. 

The  great  problem  now  is  the  distribution  of  this  growing  ^ 
wealth.  Where  the  environment  is  most  changed,  as  in  our  own 
land  of  farms  and  mines,  of  railroads  and  telegraphs,  of  manufac- 
turing towns  and  commercial  cities,  there  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  is  apt  to  be  most  unequally  distributed  among  the  people. 
The  natural  law,  "love  of  kind",  the  revealed  law,  "love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself",  Christ's  Golden  Rule,  is  the  principle  that  works 
for  the  general  good ;  but  man  everywhere  and  in  all  ages  finds 
it  more  difficult  to  apply  this  principle  to  his  next  door  neighbor, 
to  his  nearby  fellow  worker  in  farm  or  shop  or  store,  to  the  real 
individual,  than  to  the  visionary  mass  of  men. 

The  policy  of  the  Hebrew  laws  was  an  intelligent  effort  to  "^ 
secure  that  the  accumulated  wealth  should  be  as  widely  dis- 
tributed as  possible.  There  were  four  particulars  of  these  laws 
given  by  God  through  Moses  applicable  to  that  people  and  land, 
having  this  evident  policy.  The  first  was  the  policy  of  small  ^ 
estates,  each  family  was  to  have  a  small  estate  secured  to  it  as 
far  as  possible  through  out  succeeding  generations. 

The  second  was  the  policy  of  equal  taxation,  a  certain  proper-    ^(^ 
tion  of  the  income  of  the  land  equal  for  all,  was  to  support  the 
government,  including  the  general  worship  and  education  of  the 
people. 

The  third   was   the   policy  of   just   means  of   exchange.     The     > 
weights  and  measures  and  coins  were  to  be  according  to  the  stand- 
ard of  the  sanctuary,  right  in  Grod's  sight. 

The  fourth  was  the  policy  of  insisting  that  the  law,  "love  thy      j 
neighbor  as  thyself",  should  control  in  all  hiring  of  labor,  and  in 
every  business  transaction. 

This  social  policy  evidently  was  not  designed  to  foster  what  we 
call    individualism,   or   the   formation    of   large   private   fortunes. 

17 


248  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

That  the  individual  aione  b}^  himself  can  accomplish  little  and 
amounts  to  little  is  clear,  he  may  raise  wheat,  but  some  one  must 
grind  it  and  bake  it  for  him  or  he  will  raise  very  little.  Indi- 
viduals are  rrequently  endowed  with  qualities  of  leadership.  The 
general  run  of  men  would  accomplish  comparatively  little  without 
the  initiative  of  leaders,  and  the  leader  would  accomplish  little 
without  his  followers. 

The  leader  is  rewarded  and  stimulated  by  achievement,  by  the 
exercise  of  power,  by  the  pleasure  of  doing  things;  he  is  also  re- 
warded and  stimulated  by  attainment,  by  the  work  done;  he  is 
also  rewarded  by  securing  things  for  himself,  his  personal  posses- 
sions; but  the  real  leader,  the  Heaven  born  leader  is  rewarded  by 
the  satisfaction  of  leading  his  followers  into  their  ovvn  well  being. 
The  only  one  of  these  four  possible  rewards  that  social  policy  finds 
it  at  all  dangerous  to  give,  is  that  of  securing  things  for  himself, 
and  this  frequently  takes  the  vitality  from  the  leader  by  dwarfing 
the  other  rewards.  As  we  saw  in  an  earlier  chapter  the  true 
aristocracy,  that  which  is  a  benefit  to  any  society  must  combine  the 
highest  of  each  of  the  three  primary  classes  of  society,  the  high 
vitality,  the  high  ability  and  the  high  sociality  classes ;  to  leave  out 
the  last  is  to  turn  a  beneficial  aristocracy  into  an  injurious  one. 
Now  the  policy  of  a  society  which  gives  large  possessions  as  the 
reward  of  leadership  and  secures  the  descent  of  such  rewards  to 
succeeding  generations  is  apt  to  foster  the  spirit  of  selfishness 
against  the  spirit  of  sociality,  by  dwarfing  the  other  rewards.  The 
leader  himself  ceases  to  work  for  the  good  of  society  by  working 
only  or  mainly  for  the  reward,  the  accumulating  a  private  fortune, 
and  his  descendants  are  apt  to  degenerate  into  lazy  indulgence  and 
selfish  indifference  to  the  general  welfare.  Moses,  Joshua,  Sam- 
uel did  not  acquire  wealth,  and  hand  it  down  to  their  descendants. 

The  question  is  often  asked  in  these  days  can  a  single  man  ever 
fairly  earn  a  million  of  dollars,  can  he  ever  give  to  society  the 
fair  equivalent  of  a  million  dollars,  can  he  ever  serve  his  fellow 
man  a  million  dollars  worth.  It  is  quite  evident  of  these  three 
men,  and  it  is  just  as  evident  of  many  men  in  the  history  of  our 
own  nation,  that  their  services  to  mankind  were  worth  far  more 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  249 

than  can  be  estimated  in  dollars.  It  is  just  as  evident  that  all 
such  men  were  influenced  by  their  vitality,  their  i^bility  and  their 
sociality,  and  if  either  of  these  three  were  in  the  ascendancy  it  was 
the  sociality.  It  is  hence  also  evident  that  it  would  be  very  bad 
policy  for  society  to  in  any  way  undermine  the  power  of  sociality 
in  its  leaders  in  any  sphere  of  action,  and  the  attempt  to  reward 
service  by  personal  possessions  tends  to  this  undesirable  end. 
The  wisdom  of  Solomon  was  not  sufficient  to  keep  him  from 
degeneracy  when  he  allowed  his  early  ambition  to  serve  his  people, 
to  be  dwarfed  by  his  growing  desire  to  be  rich  himself.  The  high- 
est individualism  is  that  which  seeks  the  social  welfare.  Not  great 
riches  but  great  service  is  its  reward. 

It  was  possible  to  secure  personal  wealth  under  the  Hebrew 
laws,  but  it  was  against  their  policy.  The  laws  were  clearly  de- 
signed to  promote  a  vast  accumulation  of  wealth,  and  also  its  wide 
distribution. 

This  social  policy  was  also  evidently  not  designed  to  foster 
what  we  call  paternalism.  That  one  should  think  for  and  pro- 
vide for  and  so  rule  for  others  was  a  condition  possible  under  the 
Hebrew  laws,  but  it  was  not  encouraged,  it  was  against  their 
policy.  We  have  already  seen  that  large  slave  holding  could  not 
possibl}'^  exist  with  a  system  of  small  estates.  The  bond  of  force 
however  is  not  the  only  kind  of  slavery,  an  equally  strong  bond  is 
that  of  starvation.  This  bond  was  reduced  to  the  smallest  possible 
power  by  the  wide  distribution  of  the  small  estates,  by  the  pro- 
visions made  for  labor,  by  the  acknowledging  of  the  rights  of  the 
poor  in  the  gleanings,  by  the  tithes  and  the  festivals,  and  by  the 
general  law  of  love  to  the  neighbor  in  all  business  dealings.  The 
same  policy  that  discouraged  the  accumulation  of  vast  private  for- 
tunes, discouraged  the  growth  of  a  large  dependent  class. 

The  social  policy  of  the  Hebrews  evidently  fostered  what  we 
call  fraternalism.  The  intensive  culture  of  the  land,  the  free 
interchange  of  the  products  of  the  soil  and  of  the  handiwork  of  all 
classes,  the  general  incentive  to  initiative  enterprise  and  industry 
and  to  righteous  dealings  fostered  the  social  welfare,  and  the 
resultant  wealth  was  widely  distributed.    The  policy  of  the  insti- 


250  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tution  of  industry  was  to  check  the  tendency  of  individualism  to 
selfish  lawlessness  thus  leading  to  the  paternalism  that  enslaves 
and  degrades  the  many  to  lift  up  the  few,  and  to  foster  the  growth 
of  fratemalism  by  making  the  labor  of  all  for  the  service  of  all, 
and  distributing  the  rewards  of  labor  as  widely  as  possible.  The 
competitive  motive  stirs  to  leadership  and  activity  selfishly,  leads 
to  large  success  in  business  and  politics  and  at  the  same  time  to 
great  defeat,  gives  immense  wealth  and  great  honor  to  the  few  suc- 
cessful ones  and  much  distress  and  poverty  to  the  many  defeated 
ones,  is  the  source  of  pride  and  envy  and  hatred.  On  the  other 
hand  the  social  motive  stirs  to  leadership  and  activity  as  well,  but 
for  the  common  good,  and  awakens  feelings  that  are  a  credit  to 
our  humanity.  Bible  sociology  favors  the  social  motive  and  checks 
the  competitive  one. 

In  reading  the  history  of  other  ancient  civilizations  one  does  not 
have  to  read  much  between  the  lines  to  be  forced  to  live  awhile 
where  there  are  vast  private  fortunes  and  much  general  poverty, 
palaces  and  broad  estates  and  much  slavery  and  many  dependents. 
Our  pleasure  is  to  live  with  the  princes,  statesmen,  scholars, 
generals  and  great  merchants,  and  our  forced  glances  at  the 
masses  of  the  people  fill  us  with  compassion.  The  policy  of  those 
civilizations  was  towards  individualism  and  paternalism.  Such 
civilizations  were  builded  upon  slavery,  the  toil  of  the  multitude 
for  the  few,  the  palaces,  the  works  of  art,  the  refinement  and  cul- 
ture, the  literature  were  of  the  small  leisure  classes,  whose  leisure 
was  maintained  by  the  toil  of  the  masses.  While  this  seems  the 
general  condition  in  those  civilizations,  there  were  many  homes  of 
comparative  comfort  and  many  individuals  of  such  strong  virtue 
that  they  lifted  themselves  above  the  great  mass  of  the  dependents. 
No  general  policy  of  any  society  can  be  entirely  bad,  nor  can  it 
crush  all  members  of  any  single  class. 

In  reading  the  Bible  history  which  runs  along  through  many 
centuries  we  of  course  pass  through  many  stages  of  social  develop- 
ment. In  all  these  stages  the  evolution  is  of  the  masses,  the  ad- 
vance of  the  common  people  in  general  welfare  and  culture  fos- 
tered by  the  policy  of  their  laws.    There  are  princes  and  rich  men 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  251 

but  they  are  not  so  separated,  so  lifted  up  from  the  multitude. 
When  they  tend  to  separate  themselves  and  to  lord  it  over  the  rest 
they  are  checked  by  the  policy  of  the  nation's  laws,  by  the  public 
opinion  of  the  people  in  harmony  with  that  policy  and  by  the  fear- 
less preaching  of  the  Prophets  of  Righteousness.  Boaz  may  have 
had  rather  more  land  than  his  share  though  that  is  not  clear,  but 
the  whole  scene  of  the  harvesting  is  in  the  spirit  of  fraternalism. 
The  family  of  Jesse,  the  source  of  the  great  line  of  kings  in  the 
Southern  Kingdom  was  evidently  like  the  other  families  of  Judah, 
prosperous  but  not  more  than  others,  and  all  bound  together  in  the 
spirit  of  brotherhood.  David  found  Jerusalem  a  town  of  hovels 
and  left  it  a  city  of  palaces,  but  the  palaces  were  not  owned  by 
masters  nor  builded  by  slaves.  The  splendid  Temple  of  Solomon, 
as  the  Tabernacle  before  it,  was  builded  from  the  voluntary  con- 
tributions of  the  leaders  and  of  the  people. 

That  there  was  vast  accumulation  of  wealth  and  also  wide  dis- 
tribution of  it  in  the  days  of  Solomon  and  in  many  periods  after 
him  are  by  no  means  the  main  features  of  that  high  civilization, 
other  things  besides  wealth  were  fostered  in  the  spirit  of  fraternal- 
ism. 

It  cannot  be  claimed  that  the  Hebrews  excelled  in  art  as  did 
the  Greeks,  at  any  rate  no  remains  of  their  art  have  been  recov- 
ered, but  they  were  not  deficient  in  it.  Some  hold  they  were 
checked  by  thinking  God  had  prohibited  the  making  of  images 
in  the  Ten  Commandments,  but  they  were  wise  enough  to  know 
that  the  prohibition  was  not  of  making,  but  of  worshiping  images 
as  representing  God. 

At  any  rate,  the  Temple,  as  the  Tabernacle  before  it,  was  highly 
ornamented.  Workers  in  the  fine  arts  were  acknowledged  as 
specially  gifted  of  God,  and  this  palace  of  their  Great  King 
belonged  to  the  whole  nation  who  frequented  it,  and  must  have 
been  greatly  impressed  and  cultured  by  its  grandeur  and  beauty. 
Some  have  held  that  the  Hebrews  had  no  dramatic  development; 
true  they  have  left  no  ruins  of  great  theatres;  but  the  dramatic 
instinct  is  strong  in  the  race  today,  some  of  the  finest  authors, 
actors,  singers  and  managers  of  operas  and  theaters  are  of  that 


252  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

race;  and  one  of  the  greatest  dramas  in  all  literature,  Job,  and 
two  of  the  finest  librettos  of  all  operas,  "The  Song  of  Solomon", 
and  the  "Prophecy  of  Joel",  and  that  oratorio  that  needs  only  to 
be  set  to  music,  the  "Rhapsody  of  Zion  Redeemed"  by  Isaiah,  are 
in  their  literature,  and  show  a  dramatic  development  of  great 
worth.  That  they  excelled  in  music  is  unquestioned.  Many 
psalms  are  arranged  for  solos  and  chorus,  and  for  antiphonal 
singing;  and  tunes  are  mentioned  and  many  kinds  of  instruments. 
It  is  doubtful  if  the  world  has  ever  heard  such  grand  music  as 
ascended  in  praise  to  God  from  the  Temple  courts  when  the  great 
orchestra  and  the  splendid  choir  led  the  chorus  of  all  the  people, 
thousands  of  voices  in  the  open  air.  That  they  excelled  in  oratory 
no  one  can  question  who  reads  Moses'  orations  on  the  plains  of 
Moab,  Isaiah's  great  speeches  in  the  Temple  courts,  and  Paul's 
speech  in  Athens.  The  book  of  Ecclesiastes  will  rank  with  the 
works  of  the  greatest  philosophers  of  the  world  on  the  meaning 
of  life,  on  the  relations  of  God,  man  and  the  universe,  the  great 
problems  of  thought.  That  they  possesed  great  practical  wisdom 
is  shown  in  that  the  Book  of  Proverbs  is  the  best  manual  of  bus- 
iness directions  to  be  found  in  any  language,  setting  forth  the  wis- 
dom that  holds  in  her  hand  both  riches  and  honors. 

This  high  civilization  was  a  high  civilization  of  fraternalism, 
not  based  upon  slavery  that  a  leisure  class  might  be  civilized ;  but 
here  where  wealth  was  widely  distributed  a  civilization  arose  of 
the  masses  of  the  people  in  appreciating  the  harmony  in  the  world 
we  call  beauty,  in  recognizing  the  order  in  the  world  we  call 
truth,  in  following  the  right  in  the  world  we  call  morals,  and  in 
combining  beauty,  truth  and  morality  into  a  religion  binding  man 
to  God.  This  high  civilization  of  fraternalism  was  the  civiliza- 
tion of  righteousness,  the  right  relation  of  man  to  his  brother 
man,  to  the  wide  star  canopied  earth  his  home,  and  to  God  his 
Father. 

It  was  not  a  perfect  civilization  but  the  fault  was  not  in  the 
policy  of  the  laws  given  by  God  through  Moses,  but  in  their  not 
fully  obeying  them.  The  nation  experienced  frequently  great 
prosperity,  and   it   frequently  was  exposed   to  great  disaster;    its 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  253 

later  history  is  the  checkered  scenes  of  the  book  of  Judges  enacted 
on  a  larger  scale  and  depicted  in  deeper  colors.  We  are  prone 
to  account  for  the  grave  colors  of  great  disasters  by  their  disloy- 
alty to  God,  and  to  think  of  their  disobedience  as  simply  idolatry. 
But  idolatry,  as  sin  generally,  involved  a  great  deal  more  than 
worshiping  the  gods  of  the  surrounding  nations,  it  involved  the 
morals  and  customs,  the  adoption  of  the  policy  of  those  nations. 
Generally  the  encroachment  of  the  heathen  policy  toward  man 
preceded  and  led  to  the  departure  from  God.  The  idolatry  that 
eventually  brought  disaster,  the  disobedience  to  God  that  brought 
punishment,  was  a  gradually  increasing  sin  against  God  by  break- 
ing his  laws  given  through  Moses  concerning  man,  until  it  became 
a  repudiation  of  God  himself.  The  account  of  the  long  history  is 
so  rapid  and  concise  that  we  neglect  to  count  the  many  centuries 
of  gradual  departure  from  God  in  sinning  against  man. 

When  however  we  come  to  the  speeches  of  the  prophets  in  their 
effort  to  secure  prosperity  and  save  the  nation  from  disaster,  we 
recognize  at  the  first  careful  reading  how  large  attention  they 
paid  to  the  relation  of  man  to  man.  They  warned  the  people, 
especially  the  rich,  not  to  be  so  charmed  with  prosperity  that  they 
wronged  their  fellow  man;  they  denounced  the  practice  of  self- 
ishness, cruelty  and  lust ;  they  accounted  for  the  shadows  of 
coming  disaster,  for  the  withdrawing  of  God's  favor  and  the 
threatening  of  His  wrath  by  the  growth  of  their  unrighteousness 
toward  their  fellows,  by  their  sins  against  the  fraternal  policy  of 
His  laws.  Where  a  few  eloquent  sentences  are  devoted  to  idol- 
atry purely,  its  folly  and  sin,  a  multiude  of  flashing  denouncia- 
tions  are  hurled  against  the  unfraternal  spirit  and  conduct  that 
led  to  and  was  associated  with  idolatry.  Still  during  all  these 
checkered  scenes,  that  which  has  already  been  noted  goes  on,  there 
is  much  wealth  and  it  is  widely  distributed,  the  policy  foster- 
ing fraternalism  has  its  fine  results  that  distinguished  this  from 
all  other  histories,  from  all  other  civilizations. 

When  we  come  to  the  time  of  Christ  Judea  is  still  a  fruitful 
and  prosperous  land.  The  many  tributes  it  has  paid  to  passing 
conquerors,  its  long  experience  of  captivity,  its  being  for  genera- 


254  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tions  a  province  of  great  empires;  the  taxes  it  has  paid  to  Egypt, 
Babylon,  Greece  and  Rome  have  not  yet  impoverished  it.  The 
scenes  in  which  Christ  lives  are  scenes  of  general  wealth  widely 
distributed,  the  scenes  he  depicts  in  his  parables  are  those  of 
plenty,  the  people  that  gather  about  him  are  not  divided  into 
castes;  there  is  a  marked  feature  of  fraternity.  This  is  the  gen- 
eral scene,  brightness  and  prosperity,  the  parable  of  Dives  and 
Lazarus,  the  caste  of  the  Pharisee  are  rare  and  small  shadows  upon 
it.  Christ's  disciples  were  some  of  them  poor  men,  some  rich 
men,  all  were  brothers  in  Him.  Christ's  friends  in  Bethany  were 
rich,  but  eager  to  entertain  the  poor  among  his  disciples.  Christ 
himself  had  no  worldly  possessions  as  divided  from  his  fellow 
man,  he  was  the  possessor  of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth,  and  He 
called  all  men  to  share  His  riches  with  Him. 

The  teachings  of  Christ  about  wealth  are  well  worth  a  careful 
study  by  themselves,  and  should  have  special  attention  in  these 
days  of  great  riches.  How  large  a  proportion  of  His  teachings 
were  sociological  as  distinguished  from  and  still  closely  related  to 
theological  is  seen  in  many  a  chapter  of  his  life.  Take  the  tenth 
chapter  of  Mark's  Gospel  for  example.  He  teaches  about  mar- 
riage, about  children,  about  riches,  about  His  sacrifice  upon  the 
cross,  about  true  greatness  being  the  spirit  of  serving,  and  then 
He  lays  all  His  omnipotence  at  the  feet  of  a  blind  beggar.  The 
connection  of  the  domestic  relations  and  of  the  economic  is  not 
only  in  the  chapter,  but  in  the  nature  of  the  case.  Restlessness  in 
the  marriage  relation,  dislike  of  children  and  the  wrong  view  of 
wealth  are  closely  related.  It  is  quite  evident  the  rich  young  man 
both  in  acquiring  and  in  using  riches  loved  them  more  than  he 
loved  his  neighbor,  his  keeping  of  the  second  table  of  the  law 
had  been  in  letter  more  than  in  spirit.  Christ  loved  him  and 
pointed  out  to  him  his  grave  defect.  He  warned  his  disciples  of 
this  tendency  of  riche?  to  lead  to  selfishness,  and  so  shut  out  from 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  from  the  brotherhood  of  mankind.  He 
showed  them  that  love  to  God  and  love  to  one's  neighbor  would 
bring  an  abundance  of  riches  and  of  friends.  He  tried  to  replace 
their  self  seeking  with  the  spirit  of  service,  the  spirit  of  true  great- 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  255 

ness.  Then  he  gave  them  His  example  both  in  teaching  and  in 
action. 

There  are  four  features  of  Christ's  teaching  about  wealth,  and 
his  whole  attitude  toward  it  which  can  be  easily  traced  and  are  in 
full  harmony  with  the  general  teaching  of  the  scriptures. 

The  first  is  its  source.  God  is  the  giver  of  wealth,  material 
prosperity  comes  from  Him.  God  calls  to  account  for  the  gain- 
ing and  the  using  of  wealth.  God  is  the  owner,  man  is  the  stew- 
ard. Some  of  the  parables  giving  pictures  of  wealth  treat  among 
other  things  of  wealth  itself.  Man's  varied  talents  are  to  be  used 
in  God's  service.  In  gaining  and  using  wealth  man  exercises  his 
gifts  as  a  servant  of  God,  is  acting  with  God.  He  as  a  steward 
must  be  always  ready  to  give  an  account,  must  use  his  powers,  and 
acquire  and  use  wealth  always  in  a  way  pleasing  to  God.  The 
size  of  a  modern  fortune  therefore  does  not  count  in  Christ's 
sight,  except  as  it  answers  the  questions,  did  the  millionaire  gain 
his  millions  fairly  as  God's  steward,  and  does  he  use  his  millions 
wisely  in  God's  service. 

The  second  feature  is  the  law  of  acquirement.  This  is  the  law 
"love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself";  this  is  the  Golden  Rule.  It  ap- 
plies to  all  hiring  of  labor,  to  all  business  transactions,  to  all  en- 
terprises great  or  small.  The  principle  of  love  is  not  to  be  shut 
out  of  business,  but  is  to  control  it.  The  accumulation  of  wealth 
goes  hand  in  hand  with  the  distribution  of  it.  The  great  modern 
corporation  is  subject  to  the  rule  as  well  as  the  smallest  individual 
with  which  it  deals.  It  strives  to  secure  only  those  dividends  that 
are  a  fair  equivalent  for  service  rendered.  A  railroad  corporation 
with  the  labor  it  hires  and  the  general  community  it  serves,  is  to 
love  its  employees  and  patrons  as  it  loves  its  board  of  directors 
and  its  stockholders,  and  is  to  seek  a  mutual  advantage  for  all  as 
nearly  equal  as  possible.  This  makes  all  business  a  matter  of  co- 
operation, a  mater  of  fraternalism,  it  strives  to  be  just  and  fair, 
to  seek  the  good  of  others  as  it  seeks  its  own.  Adam  Smith's  rule 
"Let  each  individual  and  each  nation  seek  for  self,  and  a  pre- 
established  and  divine  order  will  make  selfishness  bring  about  the 
greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number",  overlooks  the  element  of 


256  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

love  in  the  highest  stages  of  evolution.  Christ's  insight  into  "the 
preestablished  and  divine  order"  is  finer  and  deeper.  The  love  of 
self  is  to  be  kept  within  bounds  for  the  "greatest  good  of  the  great- 
est number",  by  being  made  the  standard  of  the  love  for  others, 
then  competition  for  self  grows  human  by  becoming  competition 
for  the  service  of  others,  and  enthusiasm  for  self  which  is  animal 
becomes  enthusiasm  for  humanity  which  is  social,  and  accumula- 
tion of  wealth  is  secured  in  highest  degree,  together  with  its  widest 
distribution.  The  competitive  motive  of  Adam  Smith  does  not 
bring  about  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number — the  social 
motive  of  Christ  captures  it  and  transforms  it  for  the  good  of 
humanity. 

The  third  feature  of  Christ's  teaching  about  wealth  is  the  com- 
parative value  of  wealth  and  manhood.  Christ  never  says  any- 
thing against  wealth  itself,  much  of  his  teaching  is  in  approval  of 
the  proper  accumulation  and  distribution  of  wealth,  but  he  never 
for  an  instant  loses  sight  of  the  fact  that  a  man  is  worth  more  than 
a  sheep.  He  is  never  confused  as  to  the  relativity  of  values.  A 
fortune,  however  great,  the  whole  world  itself,  is  as  nothing  when 
compared  with  man.  Adam  Smith's  political  economy  makes 
wealth  the  center,  and  man  revolves  around  it.  Christ's  political 
economy  makes  man  the  center,  and  wealth  revolves  around  him. 
Like  the  ptolemaic  theory  of  the  solar  system  Adam  Smith  is  mis- 
taken ;  he  is  behind  the  times ;  and  is  being  set  aside.  Like  the 
Copemican  theory,  Christ  is  correct,  and  is  being  more  widely 
adopted,  and  holds  the  future  in  His  grasp.  Manhood  is  the 
supreme  product  of  the  institution  of  industry.  The  policy  of 
any  society  should  be  the  production  of  manhood.  The  accumula- 
tion and  distribution  of  wealth  is  not  the  end  in  view,  it  is  only 
a  means  to  the  end,  the  end  is  manhood.  Man  is  worth  more 
than  a  railroad,  a  coal  mine  or  a  bank  vault,  he  is  worth  more 
than  a  palace  or  a  church,  he  is  worth  more  than  a  painting  or  a 
poem.  Christ  would  ask  of  a  modern  factory  not  how  much 
money  does  it  make  but  how  much  manhood,  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion not  how  rich  it  is,  but  what  kind  of  men  and  women  does  it 
have.     Christ's  teaching  will  not  allow  us  to  consider  wealth  as 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  257 

an  aim.  Business  for  profit  only  is  essentially  immoral.  Wealth 
must  not  be  considered  by  itself  but  as  a  part  of  a  great  whole,  it 
must  be  in  harmony,  for  instance,  with  psychology,  man's  mental 
powers,  and  with  ethics,  man's  moral  nature,  it  must  be  in  har- 
mony with  government  and  religion.  Manhood  produces  wealth, 
but  weath  does  not  produce  manhood.  Honesty,  industry,  skill, 
self-control,  obedience  to  law,  willingness  and  ability  to  co-operate 
are  the  sources  of  wealth;  these  create  wealth.  Deceit,  trickery, 
fraud,  self-seeking  do  not  create  wealth;  they  rob  and  destroy. 
Christ's  teachings  of  wealth  are  a  part  of  a  complete  whole,  they 
cover  the  fulness  and  harmony  of  man's  powers  in  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  It  is  misleading  to  enumerate  land,  labor  and  capital 
as  the  factors  of  wealth  production,  the  formula  should  include 
mental  and  moral  character,  the  fully  rounded  manhood  of 
Christ's  Kingdom.  Let  barbarians  have  all  the  capital  and  land, 
all  the  mines  and  farms,  all  the  factories  and  railroads  of  our 
civilization,  and  let  them  labor  with  all  their  might  and  they 
would  produce  not  wealth  but  ruin.  They  would  seek  to  enjoy, 
not  to  serve.  A  wonderful  amount  of  the  spirit  of  service  has 
sway  in  Christian  civilization,  it  is  only  where  man  has  learned  to 
serve  his  brother  man  that  it  is  at  all  safe  for  him  to  hold  the  great 
forces  of  nature  in  his  grasp. 

There  may  be  some  civil  war  in  the  social  science  of  Christian 
lands  today,  but  political  economy  is  the  rebel  against  the  rights 
of  man,  not  Christ.  Government  may  say.  Democracy,  the  power 
is  in  the  people.  Political  Economy  may  say  Aristocracy,  the 
power  is  in  the  few.  Jurisprudence  may  say,  Justice  is  the  equality 
of  rights,  the  law  of  love,  the  law  of  service.  Political  economy 
may  say,  Self  interest  is  the  law,  the  conquest  by  the  few  in  com- 
petition with  the  many.  Christ  is  evidently  on  the  side  of  the 
Government,  and  of  Jurisprudence.  Manhood  is  the  supreme 
product  of  a  wise  social  science,  it  is  the  final  object  of  all  laws 
and  policies,  including  all  political  and  industrial  institutions; 
and  wealth  in  its  accumulation  and  distribution  is  of  value  only 
as  a  means  to  this  end.  Christian  industrialism  produces  and  dis- 
tributes v^ealth  without  wasting  more  than  it  produces  or  destroy- 


258  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ing  values  higher  than  it  creates,  it  makes  manhood  the  ultimate 
object  of  thought  and  labor.  It  is  far  better  for  the  Christian  pul- 
pit to  preach  and  for  the  Christian  church  to  live  according  to  the 
Golden  Rule  of  Christ,  than  according  to  the  Political  Economy 
of  Adam   Smith. 

The  fourth  feature  of  Christ's  teaching  about  vi^ealth  is  found 
in  his  uniform  conduct  to  the  wealthy  men  of  His  day,  and  to  the 
poor.  The  Pharisees  were,  as  a  rule,  a  wealthy  class.  Christ 
never  criticised  them  for  their  wealth  in  itself,  though  he  was 
very  severe  against  such  as  in  gaining  wealth  had  devoured  widows 
houses,  or  had  forgotten  judgment  mercy  and  faith  in  their  busi- 
ness dealings,  or  those  that  made  a  show  of  their  wealth  in  build- 
ing monuments.  He  went  freely  to  the  homes  of  the  rich,  socially 
and  on  missions  of  love,  he  feasted  with  them,  taught  them  and 
healed  their  sick,  he  comforted  them  in  their  sorrow  and  rejoiced 
tvith  them  in  their  joys.  He  selected  some  of  his  disciples  from  the 
wealthy  class.  Capernaum  is  called  his  city.  He  selected  it  as 
the  center  of  His  activity  when  in  Galilee,  it  was  a  wealthy  city 
whose  marble  palaces  were  reflected  in  the  waters  of  the  beautiful 
lake,  and  whose  marts  were  frequented  by  the  merchants  of  many 
lands;  He  chose  it  as  His  home  rather  than  the  wilds  of  Gadara. 
Some  of  his  closest  friends  were  wealthy.  He  loved  Mary  and 
Martha  and  Lazarus  who  were  rich,  and  their  home  of  luxury  at 
Bethany  was  always  his  home  when  He  visited  Jerusalem ;  in  the 
seclusion  of  its  richness  and  love  He  spent  the  day  of  silence  in 
passion  week,  and  from  it  he  passed  with  His  disciples  to  the  upper 
room  of  some  wealthy  friend  in  Jerusalem ;  and  then  on  alone  to 
the  cross. 

While  he  had  relations  of  helpfulness  and  friendship  with  the 
rich  he  treated  the  poor  with  equal  kindness.  He  went  to  the 
houses  of  the  poor  as  freely  as  to  those  of  the  rich.  He  gave  His 
gracious  ministeries  to  the  poor  as  lovingly  as  to  the  rich,  his 
teachings  were  as  full  and  frank  with  the  poor  as  to  the  rich. 
It  was  suffering  humanity  that  appealed  to  Him,  and  He  cured 
the  poor  as  freely  as  the  rich.  You  cannot  tell  simply  from  His 
action  or  from  His  speech  whether  He  is  associating  with  the  rich 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  259 

or  the  poor,  with  master  or  laborer,  mistress  or  maid.  He  made 
no  distinction  between  the  rich  and  the  poor.  He  treated  all  alike. 
He  attached  no  moral  quality  to  the  condition  of  either  the  rich 
or  the  poor.  He  was  always  attentive  to  the  needs  of  manhood. 
That  His  conduct  was  such  a  contrast  to  that  of  other  teachers 
may  account  for  His  reply  to  John  the  Baptist,  bewildered  and 
cast  down  in  prison,  but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  nature  of  his 
message  and  the  special  attention  He  gave  to  the  more  needy  are 
involved  in  it.  At  any  rate  His  answer  to  John  was  that  one 
of  the  evidences  that  He  was  the  Messiah  was  that  He  preached 
the  Gospel  to  the  poor,  the  good  tidings  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
to  the  poor. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  if  the  Church  is  anything  like  her  Lord 
there  will  be  little  cause  of  calling  her  a  partisan  of  either  the 
rich  or  the  poor.  She  will  seek  to  minister  equally  to  both,  she 
will  cordially  welcome  in  her  membership  both,  the  one  as  cor- 
dially as  the  other,  she  will  try  in  both  cases,  equally,  to  cultivate 
the  true  manhood  in  Christ.  Still  there  is  something  of  a  kindred 
condition  existing  today  as  in  Christ's  time,  and  if  she  is  chal- 
lenged by  any  of  the  bewildered  and  oppressed  she  aught  to  be 
able  to  reply  as  Christ  replied,  "The  Gospel  is  preached  to  the 
poor",  freely,  lovingly  as  Christ  preached  it.  The  apostles  car- 
ried on  the  teachings  of  Christ  concerning  the  supreme  values 
of  manhood  and  the  fraternal  spirit  in  business  and  the  accumu- 
lating and  distribution  of  wealth.  The  early  disciples  in  Jerusa- 
lem tried  the  experiment  of  voluntary  holding  of  wealth  as  a 
common  possession  in  their  own  little  circle.  The  quickly  arising 
case  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  taught  them  the  supreme  value  of 
truth  in  individual  and  social  character,  the  worth  of  manhood, 
and  that  their  holding  wealth  in  common  was  of  secondary  im- 
portance. On  the  other  hand  there  arose  the  spirit  of  giving 
special  honor  and  privilege  to  the  rich  In  the  little  circle  of  the 
disciples,  and  this  was  sternly  rebuked  by  James  to  the  Jewish 
Christians  and  by  Paul  to  the  Corinthians.  The  spirit  of  fra- 
ternalism  found  unchecked  and  wisely  directed  exercise  in  the 
loving  care  of  the  poor  in  each  little  circle  of  disciples,  and  in  the 


26o  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

sympathy  and  help  of  one  section  to  another  though  widely  sep- 
arated in  space  and  in  race,  so  the  world  was  amazed  and  said, 
"How  Christians  love  each  other". 

When  we  consider  the  great  accumulation  of  wealth  in  modern 
time  in  Christian  lands,  especially  in  our  own  land,  we  see  at  a 
glance  that  there  is  much  of  the  spirit  of  fraternalism  in  it.  It  is 
astonishing  that  so  much  has  been  accumulated  in  a  century  or 
two  as  to  give  ground  for  the  opinion  that  the  world  is  now  at 
least  twice  as  wealthy  as  it  was  two  centuries  ago,  from  the  re- 
sults of  man's  gaining  dominion  over  the  earth  in  all  the  former 
centuries.  This  modern  wealth  as  distinguished  from  the  former 
wealth  of  the  world  arises  almost  entirely  from  two  things,  dis- 
covery and  invention.  The  main  discoveries  have  been  of  coal, 
petroleum,  the  expansive  powers  of  steam  and  the  positive  and 
negative  properties  of  electricity.  The  inventions  have  been  of 
mechanical  contrivances  for  utilizing  these  great  discoveries  in  the 
service  of  mankind.  It  is  with  discovery  as  with  invention,  both 
are  for  the  race.  He  who  discovered  the  expansive  power  of  steam 
discovered  it  not  for  himself  but  for  the  race.  He  who  invented 
the  steam  engine  invented  it  not  for  himself  but  for  the  race. 
The  laws  of  society  give  the  discoverer  and  the  inventor  some 
reward,  but  at  best  it  can  be  but  a  very  small  share  in  the  results 
of  a  great  service  of  mankind. 

So  the  wealth  of  today  while  the  greater  part  is  still  in  land 
values,  differs  in  kind  also  from  the  wealth  of  past  centuries. 
That  was  largely  in  houses,  in  garments,  in  the  precious  metals 
and  in  jewels.  These  have  not  lost  any  of  their  value,  through 
all  the  changing  centuries  jewels  are  still  sought  and  cherished. 
But  all  these  things  that  may  be  grasped  and  used  by  the  few  are 
but  a  very  small  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  world  today.  Today's 
wealth  is  largely  in  railroad  and  steamships,  in  telegraphs  and  tele- 
phones, in  things  that  are  of  use  to  all,  and  virtually  belong  to 
mankind.  While  not  quite  as  free  as  the  air,  they  are  about  as 
common  as  the  air,  they  may  be  used  by  all  the  people  at  small 
charge,  and  some  of  the  greatest  at  no  charge  at  all,  they  are 
virtually  owned  by  all  the  people.     The  railroad  magnate  may 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  261 

ride  in  his  private  car;  but  it  is  generally  concluded  that  the 
ordinar}^  cars  are  more  comfortable,  and  a  ride  in  them  is  more 
entertaining.  The  palace  on  the  avenue  may  be  ablaze  with  light 
and  the  robes  and  jewels  vie  with  oriental  splendor,  but  the  lights 
on  the  street  are  also  bright  and  the  crowds  there  are  better 
clothed  than  the  wealthy  of  former  centuries,  and  far  out  in  the 
dark  country  there  is  a  room  more  cozy  and  a  light  better  to  read 
by  than  the  palace  can  afford.  The  vast  accumulation  of  wealth 
is  in  its  nature  far  more  widely  distributed  than  of  yore,  and  than 
is  generally  recognized. 

Still  no  one  can  fail  to  see  that  there  are  shadows,  and  some  of 
them  very  black  ones,  that  there  is  a  spirit  abroad  different  from 
the  spirit  of  service,  that  Adam  Smith  has  followers  as  well  as 
Jesus  Christ.  There  is  great  cause  for  the  terms  so  prevalent  to- 
day, swollen  fortunes,  predatory  wealth,  ostentatious  riches, 
while  there  is  also  abundant  cause  for  the  term  beneficient  for- 
tunes, serving  wealth  and  adorning  riches.  The  wealth  of  the 
United  States  in  1850  was  seven  billions  of  dollars,  in  1900  it  was 
ninety-four  billions  of  dollars,  an  immense  accumulation.  Nearly 
one-half  the  wealth  is  in  land  values,  and  much  of  this  has  made 
its  great  increment  by  the  means  of  railroads.  The  ownership  of 
the  farm  lands  is  still  widely  distributed,  though  a  marked  tend- 
ency prevails  toward  large  estates. 

But  concerning  the  general  distribution  of  the  vast  accumula- 
tion of  wealth  in  our  country  some  startling  statements  are  made 
by  careful  students.  It  is  claimed  by  these  careful  students  that 
one  per  cent,  of  the  families  of  the  United  States  own  over  one- 
half  of  the  whole  great  wealth,  one-half  the  ninety-four  billions 
of  dollars ;  and  that  less  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the  families  own  over 
three-quarters  of  the  ninety-four  billions  of  dollars.  On  the  other 
hand  these  students  say  that  ten  per  cent,  of  the  people  of  these 
Vv^ealthy  United  States  are  in  poverty.  They  support  themselves 
with  great  difficulty  and  at  the  best  cannot  maintain  their  lives 
in  healthy  efficiency,  they  are  underfed,  underclothed  and  under- 
housed,  and  are  constantly  affording  many  recruits  to  the  ranks 
of  pauperism,  to  be  supported  at  the  public  expense.     It  is  said  the 


262  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

average  income  of  the  average  family  of  five  in  the  United  States, 
is  less  than  seven  hundred  dollars  a  year.  That  surely  is  not  far 
removed  from  poverty,  it  is  on  the  verge  of  it;  except  of  course  in 
minister's  families  where  high  thinking  makes  them  skillful  in 
plain  living.  The  unskilled  laborer  earns  less  than  four  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  a  year  in  the  north,  and  less  than  three  hundred 
dollars  in  the  south;  that  is  the  average  laborer  can  support  a 
family  only  in  poverty,  he  must  be  helped  by  women  and  young 
children.  Many  wage  earners  certainly  can  live  only  from  hand 
to  mouth;  they  must  necessarily  do  so,  if,  as  Adam  Smith's  fol- 
lowers say,  the  price  of  labor  is  measured  by  the  lowest  cost  of 
living.  To  solve  the  problem  of  living  not  only  must  the  income 
be  considered  but  the  outgo,  and  bare  subsistence  is  certainly  not 
the  ideal  in  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  even  in  that  stage  of  it  already 
reached  in  a  Christian  land.  Dr.  Devine,  Secretary  of  the  Charity 
Organization  of  New  York  City,  says  that  for  a  family  of  five 
persons  the  minimum  income  to  maintain  "any  approach  to  a 
decent  standard  of  living  is  $600.  a  year."  Prof.  Small  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  says  "  no  man  can  bring  up  a  family  and 
enjoy  ordinary  human  happiness  on  a  wage  of  less  than  $1000.  a 
year".  John  Mitchell  estimates  the  minimum  wages  that  will 
maintain  a  working  man  and  his  family  "in  the  coal  regions  ac- 
cording to  the  American  standard"  at  $600.  a  year.  Many  promi- 
nent social  workers  in  New  York  and  Chicago  agree  that  $900. 
was  the  minimum  wages  to  support  a  family  of  five  in  decency. 
The  Maryland  Bureau  of  Statistics  puts  the  minimum  amount  at 
$750.  a  year  and  places  the  figures  as  follows.  House  rent  $i8o., 
Market  and  groceries  $364.,  Clothing  $85.,  Insurance  $18. 
Amusements,  papers,  books  and  incidentals  $10.  Doctor  and 
medicine  $20.  Coal  and  light  $35.,  carfare,  as  only  such  low 
house  rent  can  be  obtained  in  the  suburbs  of  Baltimore,  $30.  If 
the  average  income  of  a  family  of  five  in  the  United  States  is  less 
than  $700.  a  year,  there  must  be  many  families  below  the  average, 
below  the  power  of  decent  living.  The  cost  of  living  is  variable  in 
different  sections  and  in  different  times.  The  United  States 
Bureau  of  Labor  shows  the  relation  of  the  cost  of  living  to  average 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  263 

annual  incomes  in  the  year  1905  as  compared  with  the  ten  years 
period  1890  and  1900;  the  cost  of  living  in  1905  was  16  per  cent, 
higher  than  the  average  for  the  ten  year  period,  while  the  wage 
earnings  in  1905  were  only  14  per  cent,  higher  than  the  average 
for  the  ten  year  period.  This  shows  that  Christ's  standard  of 
wages  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself",  that  is,  what  is  he  worth 
to  me,  has  not  gained  but  rather  lost  a  little  in  the  last  fifteen 
years,  if  such  general  statistics  have  only  one  cause,  which  of 
course  is  improbable;  but  these  fifteen  years  have  been  years  of 
great  prosperity  and  the  showing  ought  to  have  been  on  the  other 
side,  making  due  allowance  for  all  conceivable  causes. 

By  the  census  of  1900  there  were  more  than  18,000,000  wage 
earners  in  the  United  States,  not  salaried  men  nor  business  men, 
nor  professional  men  nor  proprietors  but  those  employed  and  paid 
wages;  as  these  of  course  are  mostly  adults,  and  a  large  majority 
men,  they  form  a  large  proportion  of  our  population  which  in  that 
year  was  76,000,000.  The  wage  problem  is  certainly  worthy  of 
thoughtful  consideration  of  all  lovers  of  mankind.  The  size  of 
the  problem  comes  largely  from  the  largeness  of  modern  enter- 
prises. They  cannot  be  divided  up  among  a  great  number  of  small 
proprietors  each  doing  largely  for  himself  and  family,  and  having 
few  employees,  they  must  be  carried  on  by  a  few  directors  with  a 
vast  number  of  wage  earners. 

The  sources  of  modern  wealth  we  saw  were  mainly  discovery 
and  invention.  Tools  in  ancient  times  were  simple  and  largely 
worked  by  man's  muscles.  The  policy  of  laws  generally  protected 
the  owners  of  tools  in  their  possession  as  the  only  means  they  had 
of  gaining  a  livelihood.  The  creditor  could  not  take  from  the 
carpenter  his  tools  in  payment  of  the  debt,  he  would  be  taking 
away  from  him  the  power  of  earning  his  livelihood,  and  of  paying 
this,  and  all  other  debts.  We  find  the  same  principles  in  the  laws 
given  by  God  through  Moses  to  the  Hebrews.  "No  man  shall 
take  the  mill  or  the  upper  millstone  to  pledge;  for  he  taketh  a 
man's  life  to  pledge".  With  the  discovery  of  coal  and  the  ex- 
pansive power  of  steam  and  the  inventions  based  upon  them  tools 
became    wonderfully    complicated    and    expensive    and    are    now 

18 


264  THE   SOCIOLOGY   OF  THE   BIBLE 

largely  worked  by  steam  power  and  must  be  combined  into  great 
enterprises.  Railroads  at  first  were  short  one  track  lines,  even 
then  men  had  to  combine  in  companies  to  build  and  work  them, 
now  they  are  immense  systems  of  many  tracks  stretching  across 
the  continent  and  can  only  be  builded,  kept  in  repair,  and  worked 
by  large  corporations.  Mills  at  first  were  small  affairs,  a  few 
horse  power  engine  and  a  few  men  to  control  it  and  use  it.  Now 
a  large  factory  uses  an  engine  of  hundreds  of  horse  power  and 
employs  under  one  roof  or  series  of  roofs  a  thousand  or  more  em- 
ployees. 7  he  coal  to  be  mined  at  first  was  to  supply  small  needs, 
a  small  mine  owned  by  one  man  and  employing  a  few  helpers 
could  supply  a  neighborhood ;  now  the  demand  for  coal  is  immense 
and  vast  companies  are  needed  to  mine  and  transport  coal  to  sup- 
ply the  nation.  All  this  has  been  a  rapid  development  and  it  has 
brought  about  a  condition  when  one  set  of  men  own  the  tools  and 
another  set  of  men  work  them.  The  tool  owner  and  the  tool 
worker  was  up  until  recently  but  one  man,  and  the  laws  of  society 
protected  him  in  the  ownership  of  the  tool.  Now  suddenly  and 
on  a  large  scale  the  whole  condition  is  changed,  the  tool  owner 
and  the  tool  worker  are  two  different  sets  of  men,  and  the  change 
has  been  so  rapid  that  the  laws  of  society  have  not  had  time  to 
adapt  themselves  to  protect  the  interests  of  both  classes.  Both 
these  classes  are  dependent  upon  each  other.  The  tool  owner, 
frequently  a  corporation,  can  give  the  opportunity  of  earning  a 
living  to  a  large  number  of  tool  workers,  can  also  at  will  deprive 
them  of  that  opportunity,  and  many  a  lockout,  many  a  closed  fac- 
tory has  reduced  thousands  of  tool  workers  to  the  verge  of  starva- 
tion. On  the  other  hand  tool  workers  can  give  the  opportunity 
to  a  large  capital  corporation  to  make  profit  on  its  enterprises; 
can  also  at  will  deprive  it  of  that  opportunity,  and  many  a 
labor  strike  has  turned  a  profitable  enterprise  into  a  loss  of  divi- 
dends, and  sometimes  into  a  loss  of  capital. 

One  other  thing  of  immense  importance  accrues  from  the  great- 
ness of  modern  enterprises.  In  the  old  relation  of  hiring  labor 
there  was  a  large  amount  of  the  personal  element,  the  proprietor 
r:-:"t  the  wage  earner  face  to  face,  man  with  man ;  the  brother  ele- 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  265 

ment  could  easily  be  brought  into  the  transaction,  could  not  be 
kept  entirely  out.  In  the  new  relation  the  corporation  hires  a 
great  number  of  laborers,  frequently  hires  them  by  agreement 
with  a  great  organization  and  the  personal  element  is  pushed  al- 
most out  of  sight,  the  brother  element  can  be  brought  in  only  by 
an  effort  of  will  and  imagination,  by  faith  and  conscience.  Still 
it  is  there  and  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the  relation.  The  Christian 
conscience  and  imagination  of  tool  owners,  tool  workers  and  of 
society  generally  should  be  constantly  instructed  and  stimulated 
by  the  Christian  pulpit  to  see  the  value  and  the  rights  of  manhood 
in  the  modern  accumulation  and  distribution  of  wealth. 

Ancient  civilization  was  based  very  largely  upon  slavery,  the 
slavery  of  man.  Modern  civilization  is  based  very  largely  upon 
slavery,  but  now  it  is  upon  the  slavery  of  the  forces  of  nature  man 
has  learned  to  use.  It  is  estimated  that  the  steam  power  and  the 
electric  power  in  use  in  civilized  lands  today  is  equal  to  the  labor 
power  of  a  billion  men.  The  policy  of  enlightened  Christian  civil- 
ization should  see  to  it  that  mah  is  never  brought  into  slavery 
again.  To  allow  a  large  portion  of  the  population  to  be  on  the 
verge  of  starvation  is  to  allow  them  to  be  on  the  verge  of  slavery, 
and  that  too  when  the  accumulation  of  wealth  is  piling  up  on  the 
largest  scale. 

Society  should  carefully  frame  laws  and  pursue  the  policy  not  / 
only  of  protecting  tool  workers  and  tool  owners  in  their  rights, 
but  to  bring  them  into  loyal  obedience  to  Christ's  Golden  Rule. 
There  is  a  very  large  element  of  fraternity  both  in  the  combina- 
tions of  capital  called  corporations,  and  in  those  of  wage  earners 
called  labor  unions,  in  fact  both  are  based  upon  fraternity,  they 
could  not  exist  in  civilizations  where  fraternity  was  a  small  ele- 
ment. Both  also  are  of  great  use  to  the  general  society,  minister 
to  the  general  welfare.  Corporations  are  the  creations  of  state 
laws  and  they  have  created  the  vast  enterprises  that  characterize 
our  civilization,  and  have  been  the  source  of  great  wealth  and  of 
its  wide  distribution.  The  great  central  part  of  our  country  now 
immensely  wealthy  would  have  lingered  long  in  its  development 
had  not  railroads  bound  it  to  the  coasts,  and  steamships  to  the 


266  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

world.  These  have  hastened  its  population  not  only  but  have 
been  the  means  of  exchanging  its  surplus  w^ith  the  surplus  of  Europe, 
China  and  Japan,  with  the  products  of  the  whole  earth  and  so 
have  served  mankind  generally.  Corporations  have  projected  not  only 
railroads  but  many  great  enterprises,  and  now  carry  them  on  to 
the  benefit  of  mankind.  Capital  is  said  to  be  sensitive,  but  capital 
cannot  be  considered  separately  from  capitalists,  and  capitalists  are 
of  all  grades,  big  and  little.  A  corporation  could  not  be  formed  or 
carried  on,  capital  could  not  be  gathered  in  any  amount  without 
man  s  confidence  in  man,  in  his  ability,  his  truthfulness,  his  hon- 
esty, his  integrity.  Neither  could  capital  be  gathered  in  large 
amounts  without  a  reasonable  prospect  of  a  suitable  return  and 
without  the  general  prospect  of  being  useful  to  the  welfare  of  man, 
which  only  can  insure  a  suitable  return.  Then  these  men  who 
have  confidence  in  each  other  act  together,  co-operate  in  the  spirit 
of  fraternalism  among  themselves  and  of  service  of  man.  The 
capitalization  of  our  railroads  alone  is  nearly  fourteen  billions  of 
our  ninety-four  billions  of  wealth,  and  the  railroads  give  employ- 
ment to  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  of  our  eighteen  millions  of 
wage  earners.  Of  course  there  must  be  leadership  in  such  large 
cooperative  organizations,  and  the  mass  of  incorporators  must  have 
confidence  in  the  leaders,  this  is  an  extension  simply  of  the  spirit 
of  fraternalism.  It  is  said  that  one-tw^elfth  the  wealth  of  the 
whole  United  States  is  represented  at  a  full  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation.  These 
twenty-four  men  are  influential  directors  in  more  than  two  hun- 
dred other  corporations  which  operate  nearly  one-half  the  rail- 
roads of  the  United  States,  and  many  mines,  oil  w^ells  and  re- 
fineries, telegraph  and  express  companies,  banks,  trust  com- 
panies, these  twenty-four  men  control  companies  whose  capital  is 
over  nine  billion  of  dollars.  But  they  do  not  own,  they  simply 
control  this  great  wealth,  they  control  it  largely  for  the  benefit 
of  the  stockholders,  the  owners,  and  these  are  numbered  by  the 
thousands,  big  and  little  among  all  the  people,  and  the  various 
enterprises  so  controlled  and  owned  to  be  successful  must  serve 
in  many  ways  the  general  interests  of  society. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  267 

There  is  great  danger  of  course  in  these  vast  combinations,  dan- 
ger that  these  men  of  great  leadership  will  develop  an  arrogancy  ot 
power  and  a  cruel  proud  selfishness  which  shall  lose  sight  of  the 
interests  of  stockholders,  employees  and  the  general  public  in  their 
own  aggrandizement.  There  are  four  checks  to  this  evil  develop- 
ment. First.  If  allowed  it  will  undermine  the  confidence  in 
mankind  upon  which  the  whole  system  is  based,  and  so  topple  itself 
over  into  destruction,  a  desperate  cure  dangerously  verging  on 
anarchy.  Second.  The  evil  can  be  held  in  due  bounds  by  a  wise 
policy  in  the  state,  in  limiting  and  controlling  the  corporations  it 
creates.  It  can  in  the  third  place  be  checked  by  the  faithfulness 
of  the  Christian  pulpit  in  applying  Christ's  law  to  the  conduct  of 
business.  This  will  lead  to  the  growth  of  the  reverse  spirit,  the 
spirit  of  service.  These  leaders  can  grasp  and  culture  themselves 
in  their  great  opportunity  of  wide  service.  The  public  opinion 
may  become  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  service,  and  hold  corpor- 
ations to  the  service  of  mankind.  Both  leaders  and  public  opinion 
may  come  to  recognize  that  the  rewards  of  service  are  nobler  than 
the  grasping  of  riches,  that  enthusiasm  for  humanity  is  nobler  than 
ambition'  to  be  rich.  The  Christian  pulpit  may  incite  in  men  of 
leadership  the  direction  to  start  and  carry  on  great  enterprises,  not 
so  much  for  the  money  they  can  get  as  for  the  good  they  can  do, 
the  ambition  to  be  Christlike.  It  can  lastly  be  restrained  to  some 
extent  by  the  combination  of  wage  earners  upon  whose  co-operation 
great  corporations  of  railroads,  mines,  factories  and  all  industrial 
enterprises  depend. 

The  combination  of  wage  earners  into  labor  unions  is  also  v 
based  upon  the  spirit  of  fraternity,  and  these  Unions  also  are  of 
great  use  to  society  and  minister  to  the  general  welfare.  They, 
like  corporations,  have  arisen  from  modern  conditions.  They  are 
composed  as  far  as  possible  of  all  the  wage  earners  in  a  particular 
line  and  the  union  negotiates  with  the  employers  of  labor  in  that 
line  for  the  wages  to  be  paid,  and  the  time  and  other  conditions 
of  labor.  They  have  other  features  of  brotherhood  and  helpful- 
ness but  their  main  object  is  to  have  the  union  negotiate,  to  take 
the  place  of  individuals  competing  with  one  another  for  wages. 


268  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

The  man  who  has  only  his  labor  to  sell  has  the  following  point  of 
view,  and  the  Adam  Smith  capitalist  has  very  much  the  same  view 
from  the  opposite  side.  Workers  dependent  upon  their  work  from 
day  to  day  bid  for  work  against  each  other.  If  there  is  a  great 
supply  no  one  can  get  more  than  the  nearest  starved  consents  to 
work  for,  thus  the  lowest  grade  of  living  becomes  the  standard  of 
wages.  This  is  bad  enough  when  the  personal  element  in  the 
negotiation  is  large,  when  the  employer  meets  his  employee  face  to 
face,  as  man  with  man ;  but  it  becomes  intolerable,  when,  as  in 
modern  conditions,  an  impersonal  corporation  is  the  employer, 
made  worse  still  by  its  paid  agent  to  employ,  finding  his  success 
as  a  money  maker  for  the  corporation  consists  largely  in  employing 
labor  at  the  lowest  possible  wages. 

While  there  has  been  much  tumult  and  strife  in  the  growth  of 
labor  unions,  there  are  certain  general  principles  now  established 
and  acknowledged  in  the  laws  and  policy  of  society.  They  may  be 
concisely  stated  as  the  right  of  labor  in  any  line  to  combine  and 
negotiate,  that  is  the  right  of  fraternity,  the  right  to  negotiate  with 
all  wage  earners  to  get  them  to  enter  the  union,  and  the  right  to 
negotiate  with  employers  as  to  wages,  hours  and  conditions.  The 
line  between  negotiation  and  coercion  is  often  difficult  to  discern 
and  define,  and  the  tendency  to  cross  the  clearly  defined  line  into 
unquestioned  coercion  has  been  and  still  is  great.  But  the  right  of 
negotiation  alone  is  claimed  by  labor  and  acknowledged  by  society, 
and  a  faithful  effort  is  being  made  by  all  to  bring  practice  within 
the  bounds  of  theory.  At  the  first  employers  generally  resented 
the  attempt  of  a  union  to  negotiate  for  wages  as  an  interference 
with  what  was  solely  their  own  business,  they  would  set  their  own 
prices  according  to  the  supply  in  the  market.  It  is  said  there  is  not 
a  single  case  on  record  where  the  adoption  of  the  negotiation  has 
not  been  forced  on  the  employer  by  a  strike,  or  the  general  experi- 
ence of  strikes;  but  this  of  course  cannot  be  determined,  the  gen- 
eral influence  of  strikes  being  a  vague  quantity.  In  this  day  how- 
ever of  social  enlightenment  and  brotherhood  employers  are  rare 
who  claim  that  anyone  may  conduct  his  business  exactly  as  he 
pleases,  he  is  responsible  to  the  public,  there  must  be  fraternalism 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  269 

in  some  degree,  and  the  larger  the  business  as  the  mining  of  coal 
or  the  running  of  a  railroad  the  greater  the  responsibility.  The 
employer  may  adopt  negotiation  with  the  union  at  first  as  a 
choice  of  evils  as  preferable  to  a  strike,  but  he  soon  learns  there  are 
many  advantages  in  it,  and  he  may  be  intelligent  enough  and  fra- 
ternal enough  to  see  these,  and  to  adopt  it  without  the  fear  of  a 
strike.  It  is  recognized  now  that  strikes  grow  out  of  intelligence 
and  fraternity.  Fools  do  not  strike,  only  those  who  have  intelli- 
gence to  recognize  their  conditions  and  tendencies,  and  what  may 
be  justly  claimed  and  reasonably  aspired  for,  enter  upon  a  strike. 
So  avoidance  and  adjustment  of  strikes  must  come  from  increased 
intelligence  and  fraternity,  to  recognize  the  view  of  the  intelligent 
wage  earner,  and  respond  to  it ;  and  to  see  that  manhood  is  needed 
to  carry  on  successfully  any  worthy  work,  and  it  should  be  fostered 
by  that  work.  When  negotiations  are  heartily  and  harmoniously 
made  mutual  good  comes  to  employer  and  employee,  to  the  em- 
ployer in  the  stability  of  his  business  and  the  quality  of  the  labor 
secured,  and  to  the  employee  in  a  higher  standard  of  living  and  of 
working. 

A  glance  at  the  historj'  of  strikes  and  their  results  gives  ground 
for  this  view,  and  shows  the  growth  of  the  spirit  of  fraternity  not 
only  in  the  combinations  of  capitalists  and  of  wage  earners  them- 
selves but  in  their  relations  with  each  other.  Dr.  Carroll  D. 
Wright,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor  estimates  that  dur- 
ing what  may  be  called  the  era  of  strikes  in  the  United  States,  the 
twenty  years  of  strikes  from  1880  to  1900,  there  were  in  our 
country  23,000  of  these  industrial  wars,  over  one  thousand  a  year. 
Of  these  51  per  cent,  were  entirely  successful,  both  in  the  claim 
of  wages  and  the  hours  of  work;  13^^  per  cent,  were  partially 
successful,  and  the  remaining  36  per  cent,  failed  completely.  The 
strikes  lasted  on  an  average  about  twenty-four  days  and  more  than 
six  million  of  wage  earners  were  out  of  employment.  The  wage 
loss  was  over  $250,000,000.  and  the  employers  loss  was  over 
$120,000,000.  The  strike  period  was  one  of  development  not  only 
in  the  general  large  increase  of  wealth  and  the  raising  of  wages 
and  standard  of  living  of  wage  earners,  but  in  the  growth  of  the 


270  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

fraternal  spirit  and  plans  of  negotiation.  In  England  earlier  than 
with  us  the  organization  of  boards  of  negotiation  had  resulted 
from  strikes.  In  i860  and  following  years  after  a  long  era  of 
strikes  a  board  of  an  equal  number  of  operatives  and  of  manufac- 
turers was  created  in  the  hosiery  trade,  in  the  building  trade,  in 
iron  ship  building,  in  coal  mining,  and  other  trades,  and  since  the 
formation  of  such  boards  disturbances  have  been  rare.  In  1885 
this  kind  of  negotiation  boards  was  introduced  in  the  United 
States  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry,  and  there  have  been  few  in- 
terruptions in  that  industry  since,  and  it  has  followed  in  many 
other  lines  of  industry.  It  is  said  that  the  most  magnificent  speci- 
men of  this  kind  of  fraternalism  in  the  world  is  found  in  the  great 
bituminous  coal  industry  of  the  four  States,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  and  extended  in  some  features  to  the  an- 
thracite coal  mining  since  the  great  strike  of  1900,  where  annual 
conferences  of  delegates  from  miners  unions  and  mine  owners  fix 
the  scale  of  wages  for  the  year.  Whenever  it  is  found  by  the  war- 
fare that  the  labor  union  is  too  strong  to  crush,  wise  employers 
learn  to  deal  with  it  on  a  frank  business  basis  of  brother  consulting 
with  brother.  The  warfare  is  the  reverse  of  brotherhood,  but  in 
it  both  parties  frequently  learn  not  only  to  respect  each  other  but 
that  each  needs  the  other.  The  conflict  arises  from  the  political 
economy  of  Adam  Smith;  the  resulting  fraternity  is  the  reason- 
ableness of  the  political  economy  of  Jesus  Christ. 

There  are  various  means  society  is  devising  to  diminish  and  do 
away  with  the  warfare.  Compulsory  arbitration  has  proved  of 
value  during  live  years  of  trial  in  New  Zealand.  No  man 
can  be  compelled  to  work,  no  business  can  be  compelled  to  go 
on,  the  compulsion  is  not  in  that  line,  but  the  compulsion  Is 
that  if  the  work  and  the  business  go  on  they  must  go  on  accord- 
ing to  the  decision  of  the  court;  and  all  disputes  must  be  refer- 
red to  the  court.  In  the  United  States  the  National  Civic  Fed- 
eration in  1 90 1  appointed  a  committee  to  promote  the  peaceful 
settlement  of  disputes  between  labor  and  capital.  The  character 
of  the  members  of  this  committee  or  court  was  calculated  to 
win   the   confidences  of   the   disputing  parties   and   to   voice   the 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  271 

opinion  of  society  demanding  arbitration  rather  than  warfare.  It 
consisted  of  twelve  great  emploj^ers  of  labor,  twelve  great  labor 
leaders,  and  twelve  neutrals  from  the  general  public;  among 
these  latter  were  such  men  of  eminence  as  Ex-President  Cleve- 
land, Arch  Bishop  Ireland,  Bishop  Potter  and  President  Elliott 
of  Harvard.  Beyond  these  devices  of  society  the  main  reliance 
must  still  be  on  the  growth  of  a  spirit  of  fraternalism  as  taught 
by  Jesus  Christ.  The  Hon.  Carroll  Wright,  U.  S.  Commissioner 
of  Labor  said  in  a  speech  recently,  "Religion  is  the  only  solution 
of  the  conflict  between  labor  and  capital.  The  Decalogue  is  a 
good  platform.  A  new  law  of  wages  must  grow  out  of  religious 
thought.  The  old  struggle  was  for  existence,  the  new  struggle 
is  for  a  wider  spiritual  manhood.  Out  of  this  struggle  is  grow- 
ing a  new  political  economy  looking  to  the  care,  comfort  and 
culture  of  man.  Religious  education  must  bring  about  an  alli- 
ance of  ethics  and  economics  in  the  welfare  of  mankind." 

The  growing  intelligence  and  fraternal  spirit  forming  labor 
unions  and  fostered  by  them,  and  the  higher  standards  of  living 
resulting  from  them  are  being  recognized  by  society  in  general, 
not  only  but  by  the  combinations  of  the  employers  of  labor  as 
well.  Mr.  J.  Schonfarher,  the  leader  in  the  investigation  by  the 
Maryland  Labor  Bureau,  says:  "It  is  easily  seen  that  where 
there  has  been  an  increase  of  wages  approximating  anything  like 
the  increase  in  the  cost  of  living,  it  has  been  mainly  in  those 
trades  which  were  thoroughly  organized  and  could  by  universal 
force  and  combination  enforce  their  demands.  The  increase  has 
been  mainly  in  the  organized  railroad  employees,  textile  workers 
and  building  trade  mechanics."  The  general  rise  in  wages  while 
not  so  marked  has  been  largely  brought  about  by  these  organized 
trades.  Not  only  the  rise  in  wages  is  to  be  credited  largely  to 
the  organizations  of  labor,  but  these  also  by  influencing  public 
opinion  and  legislation  have  largely  brought  about  laws  regulat- 
ing the  hours  of  labor,  and  laws  requiring  sanitary  conditions  and 
reasonable  conditions  of  safety,  and  especially  laws  regulating  the 
employment  of  children  in  mines  and  factories. 

The  greed  of  capital  in  individual  hands  to  some  extent,  but 


272  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

especially  in  corporate  hands,  tends  not  only  to  starvation  wages 
but  to  long  hours  of  labor  and  to  carelessness  with  regard  to 
health  and  life,  and  together  with  the  need  of  parents,  to  force 
children  into  labor  that  stunts  their  physical,  mental  and  moral 
growth.  This  greed  is  frequently  checked  by  a  growing  of  the 
fraternal  spirit  in  the  individual  and  company  employing  labor, 
and  more  frequently  by  the  growing  fraternal  spirit  in  society 
itself;  and  generally  in  both  cases  the  fraternal  spirit  in  labor 
organizations  has  directed  attention  to  the  abuses  of  greed  and 
aroused  opposition  to  it.  Still  ceaseless  vigilance  is  needed  to 
guard  life  against  greed.  Elbert  Hubbard  says  that  in  1906  there 
were  twenty  thousand  little  children  working  in  the  cotton  mills 
of  the  southern  states,  mills  largely  controlled  by  northern  cap- 
ital, working  twelve  hours  a  day  for  ten  cents  a  day  wages.  He 
describes  them  as  having  dull,  heavy  eyes,  great  pallor,  aged 
looks,  as  knowing  nothing  of  play  and  dying  off  rapidly.  The 
Child  Labor  Commission  of  the  State  of  New  York  reported  in 
1904  to  the  Governor  that  in  a  single  city  in  the  center  of  that 
State  there  were  three  hundred  children  under  six  years  of  age 
working  ten  hours  a  day  in  factories.  Greed  for  money  will 
dwarf  childhood,  degrade  womanhood  and  crush  manhood,  if  left 
to  itself  it  is  as  cruel  as  the  deep  mines  it  works,  as  the  heavy 
machinery  it  runs,  but  there  is  the  growing  spirit  of  fraternalism 
that  values  childhood,  womanhood  and  manhood  above  gold  to 
meet  and  check  the  grasp  of  greed. 

The  growing  spirit  of  fraternalism  that  we  have  traced  in  the 
formation  of  great  combinations  of  both  capital  and  labor,  and 
though  through  their  frequent  conflicts  still  in  the  spirit  of  nego- 
tiation between  the  two,  and  in  many  advances  through  public 
opinion  of  the  condition  and  rewards  of  labor,  may  be  further  dis- 
cerned also  in  the  schemes  being  devised  nowadays  in  both  profit 
sharing  and   in  co-operation. 

One  of  the  greatest  combinations  of  capital  existing  in  our 
country,  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  offers  its  employees 
a  share  of  its  profits.  The  man  earning  two  dollars  a  day  and  buy- 
ing a  share  of  the  preferred  stock  at  the  market  price  from  the 
corporation  has  a  bonus  of  five  dollars  added.    This  is  but  a  small 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  273 

sharing  of  profits,  on  a  yearly  wage  of  six  hundred  dollars  of 
less  than  one  per  cent,  but  it  recognizes  by  a  large  corporation  that 
wage  earners  may  have  further  interests  in  their  work  than  their 
wages.  The  largest  share  in  profits  I  believe  is  given  by  the 
Baker  Windmill  and  Pump  Company.  The  plan  was  devised  by 
a  Mr.  Baker,  a  student  in  Sociology  in  Wisconsin  University 
when  he  came  into  full  control  of  the  Company.  Rule  II  of  the 
bylaws  provides:  "The  net  profits  shall  be  divided  between  the 
preferred  stock  and  labor  in  proportion  to  the  earning  capacity 
of  each".  The  money  paid  to  the  preferred  stock  and  to  labor 
as  wages  is  in  each  case  treated  as  earnings  on  capital.  The  cap- 
ital of  the  stockholder  is  the  total  of  money  invested.  The  capital 
of  the  laborer  is  the  total  of  his  strength,  character  and  skill  put 
in  the  work.  The  money  capital  is  paid  the  yearly  dividend  of 
five  per  cent.  The  man  capital  is  paid  the  current  wages.  The 
current  wages  at  two  dollars  a  day  is  six  hundred  dollars  a  year 
and  that  is  five  per  cent  on  twelve  thousand  dollars.  So  in  further 
dividing  the  profits  the  one  who  owns  twelve  thousand  dollars 
of  preferred  stock,  and  the  two  dollars  a  day  laborer  have  equal 
shares.  There  is  provision  made  for  enlarging  the  plant  by  the 
creation  of  common  shares  divided  among  preferred  stock  holders 
and  laborers  on  the  same  principle.  This  plan  lifts  up  the  laborer 
from  a  mere  seller  of  muscle  to  the  position  of  a  capitalist,  and  it 
is  claimed  intensifies  and  develops  his  manhood.  The  company 
has  been  very  successful.  As  I  am  able  to  calculate  had  the 
United  States  Steel  corporation  divided  its  profits  in  1906  on 
the  same  plan  with  the  Baker  Company  each  two  dollar  a  day 
laborer  would  have  received  over  four  hundred  dollars  in  addi- 
tion to  his  wages  instead  of  five  dollars.  How  the  profit  sharing 
shall  be  conducted  is  difficult  to  decide  but  that  there  should  be 
some  profit  sharing  is  certainly  demanded  by  a  growth  of  the  spirit 
of   fraternalism    in   business. 

The  co-operative  movement  has  made  greater  progress  in  the 
old  world  than  in  the  new.  Demarest  Lloyd  says  that  more  than 
one-sixth  the  population  of  England  are  enrolled  in  the  co-oper- 
ative movement.     There  are  many  towns  where  the  principal  fac- 


274  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

tories,  stores  and  banks  are  co-operative  and  where  the  majority 
of  the  citizens  are  in  co-operative  employments.  There  are  over 
twenty  thousand  working  men  and  women  in  England  who  act 
as  directors  and  managers  of  successful  co-operative  enterprises. 
The  co-operative  movement  has  increased  rapidly  also  in  Ger- 
many, and  is  also  growing  in  Belgium,  France  and  Italy.  The 
rise  of  wage  earners  into  the  position  of  capital  owners  is  the  pro- 
cess of  evolution  going  on  in  those  lands,  where  the  workman  is 
again  becoming  the  owner  of  his  tools. 

Individual  enterprise  must  be  protected  and  fostered  but  only 
so  long  as  it  works  for  the  good  of  society.  Stirred  by  wrong 
motives  and  unrestricted  in  its  action  it  may  work  great  injury 
in  any  sphere.  "We  must  not  restrict  individual  enterprise"  is 
the  cry  of  business.  Ages  ago  civilization  restricted  individual 
enterprise  to  slay  and  rob.  In  our  Civil  War  we  restricted  indi- 
vidual enterprise  to  make  fortunes  by  the  labor  of  slaves.  When 
individual  enterprise  clothing  itself  with  corporate  privileges 
makes  gigantic  fortunes  by  the  monopoly  of  natural  resources,  or 
by  the  corrupt  grasping  or  using  of  legislative  franchises,  surely 
society  may  wisely  restrict  it. 

While  the  wise  policy  of  society  must  be  to  devise  schemes  to 
check  the  grasping  of  greed  the  ideal  must  be  the  replacing  of 
greed  as  a  motive  by  the  love  of  humanit}^;  by  an  enthusiasm 
which  will  arouse  the  great  powers  of  leaders  and  masses  into  the 
service  of  their  kind,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  social  spirit.  The 
covetousness  Christ  constantly  rebukes  is  the  desire  for  more  than 
one's  due,  for  more  than  properly  belongs  to  one  in  any  busi- 
ness. In  the  great  enterprises  of  modern  business  and  the  great 
combinations  carrying  them  on  there  are  abundant  opportunities 
for  the  business  management  to  grasp  more  than  its  due.  A  suc- 
cessful captain  of  industry  has  wisely  said  that  industrial  condi- 
tions are  like  a  three  legged  stool,  labor,  capital  and  business 
management,  all  three  are  needed.  But  then  the  stool  should  have 
legs  of  somewhere  nearly  equal  length,  to  be  of  any  value  as  a 
stool,  while  in  some  cases,  his  own  notably,  the  business  manage- 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  275 

ment  leg  seems  at  least  a  foot  longer,  and  the  capital  leg  several 
feet  longer  than   the  labor  one. 

Monopoly  is  not  a  purely  modern  growth.  Before  the  time 
of  Christ,  the  King  of  the  Chorasmi  ruling  over  a  range  of  moun- 
tains discovered  that  the  river  that  made  the  plain  above  a  fruitful 
kingdom,  and  the  plain  below  another  fruitful  kingdom  flowed 
through  his  mountain  range.  He  was  a  sharp  business  man,  he 
builded  a  great  dam  across  the  river  and  defended  it  in  his  mountain 
fastness.  He  levied  tribute  on  the  upper  kingdom  by  the  threat, 
tried  once  and  found  successful,  of  turning  their  fruitful  land  into 
a  swamp.  He  levied  tribute  on  the  lower  kingdom  by  the  threat, 
tried  once  and  found  successful,  of  turning  their  fruitful  land  into 
a  desert.  He  became  immensely  rich  by  simply  letting  the  river 
flow  in  its  natural  way ;  he  had  a  monopoly  of  the  river.  Monop- 
oly of  iron,  coal  or  oil  in  modern  times  is  a  monopoly  of  natural 
resources  as  much  as  the  ancient  monopoly  of  the  river.  It  is 
formed  by  shrewd  business  management  crushing  small  competi- 
tors, forming  great  combinations,  making  money  by  discounting 
the  future  in  watering  stock,  and  when  formed  it  makes  its  own 
prices  and  the  people  can  buy  or  not  as  they  choose.  Of  course 
the  price  is  a  buying  price,  since  the  people  must  live,  but  the 
main  spirit  is  greed,  covetousness,  getting  more  than  one's  dues. 
Men  will  form  these  schemes  who  would  not  steal  a  dollar  under 
any  circumstances,  they  do  not  seem  to  see  that  their  successful 
scheme  is  stealing  small  amounts  from  great  multitudes. 

Another  successful  captain  of  industry  has  illustrated  the  growth 
of  his  great  wealth  by  the  growth  of  the  American  Beauty  Rose. 
The  great  size  and  beautiful  color  of  the  Rose  has  been  developed 
by-  picking  off  a  multitude  of  buds  and  throwing  the  whole 
strength  of  the  bush  into  a  single  flower.  The  illustration  is  both 
cruel  and  conceited;  cruel,  as  the  buds  crushed  are  human  com- 
petitors, and  conceited,  that  his  enormous  fortune  is  anything  like 
the  American  Beauty  Rose.  It  is  questionable  whether  the  modem 
gigantic  fortunes  could  be  gathered  without  society  unduly  encour- 
aging individual  enterprise  by  giving  it  corporate  privileges  and 
public  franchises,  without  duly  considering  and  carefully  guard- 


276  THE   SOCIOLOGY   OF  THE   BIBLE 

ing  the  rights  of  all  the  people,  without  ignoring  the  equality  of 
all  its  citizens  before  the  law. 

Still  another  successful  captain  of  industry  has  intimated  that 
the  Lord  God  had  selected  him  and  his  associates  to  gain  and 
control  great  wealth  in  natural  resources;  and  he  said  this  not 
while  he  was  striving  to  give  labor  as  much  as  it  earned  and  the 
people  coal  as  cheaply  as  he  could,  not  while  he  was  acting  as 
God's  steward  for  the  good  of  others,  but  while  he  was  accumu- 
lating millions  for  himself  and  his  associates  in  a  great  monopoly. 
The  true  ideal  of  being  God's  steward  is  to  use  the  wealth  and  the 
ability  He  entrusts  to  one  in  serving  mankind,  in  giving  others 
the  opportunity  ot  exercising  their  talents  and  using  their  posses- 
sions to  secure  the  common  good,  it  is  the  reverse  of  monopoly,  it 
is  fraternal  ism,  the  reverse  of  greed,  it  is  the  enthusiasm  for 
humanity. 

The  pleasure  of  accumulating  for  one's  self  is  sometimes  con- 
trasted by  a  wealthy  man  in  his  own  experience,  with  the  pleasure 
of  serving  mankind.  After  accumulating  a  fortune,  and  while  it 
is  accumulating  itself  still  more  by  the  impetus  he  has  given  it, 
he  gives  much  of  his  thought  to  the  distribution  of  a  large  part  of 
it  or  of  his  income,  by  gifts  to  the  people  in  promoting  educational 
and  philanthropic  enterprises.  This  of  course  can  never  atone  for 
any  wrong  done  the  people  in  the  accumulating  the  fortune,  such 
motives  of  buying  an  entrance  into  Heaven  belong  to  medieval 
superstition,  but  can  give  very  little  ease  to  a  guilty  conscience  in 
modern  enlightenment.  In  the  pleasure  such  an  one  finds  in  ad- 
vancing schemes  for  the  betterment  of  mankind  he  may  find  also 
how  much  pleasure  he  has  missed  in  his  struggle  to  gain  wealth, 
which  he  might  have  had  by  being  just  and  generous  not  only  in 
his  dealings,  but  in  having  the  enthusiasm  of  serving  mankind  as 
the  incentive  of  all  his  effort. 

It  is  a  difficult  if  not  impossible  thing  to  give  away  a  large 
fortune  for  the  welfare  of  society,  since  a  gift  in  such  conditions 
tends  to  undermine  the  self-respect  and  self-reliance  of  the  society 
accepting  it,  such  giving  will  be  futile  not  only  in  atoning  for  any 
wrong  in  gaining  the  fortune,  but  will  not  be  an  unmixed  blessing 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH  277 

to  society.     The  service  to  society  is  far  better  rendered  by  the 
conduct  of  business  in  the  spirit  of  service  rather  than  of  greed. 

As  we  have  seen  monopoly  is  not  a  modern  discovery  so  giving 
large  gifts  is  no  new  device  of  great  fortunes,  whatever  the  motive. 
Counting  the  weight  of  gold  to  a  dollar  as  the  same  then  as  now 
and  estimating  the  purchasing  power  of  a  dollar  as  ten  times 
greater  in  ancient  days,  we  have  an  authentic  account  of  a  gift  of 
Croesus,  King  of  Lydia,  to  the  Temple  of  Delphi  of  one  hundred 
million  dollars,  and  that  he  gave  the  same  amount  at  the  same 
time  to  the  Temple  of  Branchidae;  these  were  both  foreign 
divinities  to  him,  in  whom  he  was  only  remotely  interested,  but  he 
gave  at  this  single  time  not  less  than  two  hundred  million  dollars, 
a  gift  rivaling  the  combined  gifts  of  all  kinds  made  during  many 
years  up  to  this  time  of  both  Carnegie  and  Rockefeller.  That 
Croesus  was  generous,  that  he  gained  pleasure  and  fame  by  his 
large  gifts,  leads  us  to  hope  that  he  gained  and  held  his  immense 
fortune  without  wronging  a  single  one  of  his  fellow  men ;  but  it 
is  hardly  conceivable. 

In  the  Kingdom  of  God  greed  can  find  no  abiding  place.  The 
incentive  to  the  use  of  individual  ability  and  in  the  combination 
of  many  individuals  in  great  enterprises  must  be  other  than  covet- 
ousness.  In  bringing  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  the  Christian  min- 
istry and  the  Christian  church  whatever  attitude  they  may  assume 
toward  tainted  money  can  never  give  the  slightest  countenance  to  a 
tainted  spirit  without  injuring  the  cause  of  Christ,  which  is  the 
cause  of  humanity.  The  covetousness  the  Saviour  denounced  can 
never  advance  His  kingdom,  nor  be  a  welcome  element  in  it.  This 
covetousness  is  mean  and  small  when  it  looks  upon  some  little 
thing  belonging  to  another  with  lustful  eyes.  It  is  just  as  mean, 
and  meaner  still  because  much  larger,  when  it  stirs  a  corporation 
to  look  with  greedy  eyes  upon  its  smaller  competitors  and  to  form 
a  monopoly  to  levy  tribute  upon  the  people ;  such  a  corporation  has 
no  right  to  the  name  Christian  in  any  sense.  The  ministry  in  the 
pulpit  should  detect  covetousness  under  whatever  guise  it  hides 
itself,  and  should  teach  the  people  to  detect  it  even  when  it  is 
masked  as  the  only  possible  spirit  in  business,  and  whenever  it  is 


278  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

discovered  it  should  be  denounced  as  Christ  denounced  it.  The 
Christian  church  is  far  away  from  the  spirit  of  her  Lord  when 
she  welcomes  success  in  accumulating  a  fortune  when  she  knows 
the  spirit  that  accumulated  it  and  continually  enlarges  it,  is  the 
spirit  of  greed.  The  Christian  pulpit  and  the  Christian  church 
should  not  be  afraid  of  following  the  teachings  of  her  Lord.  We 
do  not  need  to  apologize  for  Him  as  an  impractical  man.  The 
enthusiasm  for  Him  and  for  His  brother  man,  the  enthusiasm  for 
humanity  should  be  steadfastly  held  up  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the 
practice  of  the  Church  as  the  proper  incentive  for  life  in  all  its 
directions,  and  especially  in  the  carrying  out  of  the  original  mis- 
sion of  man,  in  subduing  the  earth  and  having  dominion  over  it, 
especially  in  the  large  department  of  life  called  modern  business 
enterprise.  This  policy  of  society,  this  policy  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  will  secure  a  great  accumulation  of  wealth,  the  changed  en- 
vironment wrought  by  man  in  his  social  action,  and  it  will  secure 
its  wide  distribution  also.  The  refinement,  the  comfort,  the  cul- 
ture will  be  of  the  many,  including  the  few,  and  the  uplift  will 
be  not  of  only  a  few,  or  a  small  portion,  but  the  uplift  of  society 
itself,  of  the  people,  of  the  mass  of  mankind. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Institution  of  Culture. 

Edmund  Burke's  saying,  "A  disposition  to  preserve  and  an 
ability  to  improve,  taken  together,  would  be  my  standard  of  a 
statesman",  affords  a  high  standard  of  social  culture.  President 
Butler's  description  of  education,  "The  adaptation  of  a  person,  a 
self  conscious  being,  to  his  environment  and  the  development  of  a 
capacity  in  a  person  to  modify  and  control  that  environment", 
affords  a  fine  description  of  social  culture.  But  disposition  and 
ability,  adaptation  and  capacity  are  much  more  easily  recognized 
and  estimated  in  a  person  than  in  a  society.  Social  culture  is  a 
combination  and  modification  of  the  ideals  and  feelings  of  the 
individuals,  high  and  low,  wise  and  unwise,  composing  the  society. 

The  social  culture  of  any  particular  time  embodies  the  collec- 
tive judgment  and  taste,  intellectual,  moral  and  practical  of 
many  generations  preserved  and  enjoyed  by  the  present  genera- 
tions, together  with  the  power  of  conveying  this  inheritance  modi- 
fied and  improved  to  the  coming  generations.  The  true  culture 
of  any  societ}'  is  the  development  of  all  its  powers  harmoniously 
and  in  due  proportion  for  its  complete  living.  How  clearly  the 
social  consciousness  sees  this  ideal,  how  firmly  and  wisely  the 
social  will  proposes  to  attain  it,  are  subjects  of  vast  interest  in 
the  study  of  any  particular  society.  The  evolution  of  society 
through  adaptation  to  and  modification  of  its  environment  ever 
tends  to  such  a  social  consciousness  and  will,  or  it  ceases  its 
advance  and  gives  place  to  stagnation  or  retrogression. 

The  institution  of  culture  in  any  organized  society  embraces 
all  those  agencies  and  forces  which  are  in  line  with  the  arousing 
of  the  social  consciousness  and  will  to  the  development  of  all  the 

19 


28o  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

powers  of  society  to  its  highest  possible  well  being.  The  general 
tendency  of  a  society  in  the  kind  and  degree  of  culture  it  develops 
grows  out  of  heredity  of  race  traits  and  the  influence  of  its 
environment,  of  the  land  and  neighbors.  The  world  generally 
concedes  that  the  tendency  of  Greek  society  was  the  culture  of 
the  sense  of  the  beautiful  and  a  life  of  sensual  enjoyment;  that 
the  tendency  of  Roman  society  was  the  culture  of  the  sense  of 
power,  and  a  life  of  dominion.  The  Greeks  had  a  love  of  power 
but  it  was  subordinate  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  senses.  The 
Romans  had  a  love  of  the  beautiful  but  it  was  subordinate  to  the 
ambition  for  dominion.  The  policy  of  each  society  arose  out  of 
the  growing  social  consciousness  and  will  in  the  line  of  its  pecu- 
liar tendency  and  controlled  its  laws,  manners  and  customs. 

So  the  world  generally  concedes  that  the  tendency  of  Hebrew 
society  was  the  culture  of  the  sense  of  righteousness  and  a  life  of 
self  control.  This  does  not  conclude  that  either  Greek  or  Roman 
was  without  the  sense  of  righteousness,  but  with  them  it  was 
subordinate  to  their  special  tendencies.  This  does  not  conclude 
that  the  Hebrew  was  without  the  sense  of  the  beautiful  or  of 
power,  but  these  were  subordinate  to  his  special  tendency.  Back 
of  these  civilizations  toward  primitive  society  were  the  civiliza- 
tions of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile.  The  tendency  of  the  society 
of  Babylon  and  of  Egypt  as  we  have  seen  was  toward  easy  and 
luxurious  living,  they  were  not  destitute  of  the  sense  of  beauty 
or  power  or  righteousness,  but  held  these  subordinate  to  their 
special  tendency  of  culture,  the  sense  of  ease,  which  their  environ- 
ment fostered. 

We  see  at  a  glance  that  the  culture  of  righteousness  is  more 
fully  in  line  with  the  ideal  culture  already  described  than  either 
or  all  of  the  others,  it  develops  all  the  powers  of  society  harmon- 
iously and  in  due  proportion  to  its  complete  being.  The  policy  of 
either  of  the  other  societies  may  tend  to  the  culture  of  a  few 
of  its  members  to  the  neglect  or  injury  of  the  mass  of  its  members, 
the  culture  of  the  few  may  be  very  high,  but  it  is  at  the 
expense  of  the  many.  The  culture  of  ease  of  living  may  be  the 
accumulation  of  wealth  for  the  few  alongside  the  sordidness  of 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  281 

poverty  of  the  many,  the  palace  of  the  noble  alongside  the  hovel 
of  the  slave.  The  culture  of  the  beautiful  may  result  in  artists, 
poets,  orators  and  philosophers  whose  works  charm  the  world,  the 
few  supported  in  leisure  by  the  daily  grind  of  the  multitude. 
When  Athens  was  the  glittering  splendor  of  the  world  four  men 
out  of  every  five  were  slaves.  The  culture  of  the  powerful  may 
result  in  a  triumphal  entry  into  the  capital  of  the  world,  the 
Roman  populace  welcoming  back  a  great  Emperor  and  his  army 
from  the  conquest  of  a  nation,  but  the  slain  on  the  battle  fields, 
the  captives  sold  as  slaves  in  the  market  place,  the  plundered 
people  in  the  far  off  land  to  be  further  impoverished  by  severe 
taxation,  and  the  nation  losing  its  independence  and  being  absorbed 
into  the  great  empire  are  the  many  at  whose  expense  the  few  have 
power.  The  evolution  of  such  a  society  resulting  in  a  social  con- 
sciousness and  will  neglecting  or  oppressing  the  many  of  its  mem- 
bers for  the  sake  of  the  few  ceases  at  length  to  advance  and  gives 
place  to  stagnation  or  retrogression. 

It  is  quite  evident  the  ideal  society  according  to  nature  and 
revelation,  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  whole  earth,  cannot  find 
its  loftiest  culture  in  either  ease,  beauty  or  power,  the  evolution 
that  leads  to  it  must  be  in  the  line  of  righteousness.  A  marked 
feature  in  the  culture  of  righteousness  is  that  it  must  be  the  culture 
of  the  masses,  of  all  the  men  and  women  composing  the  society. 
The  individual  most  highly  cultured  in  righteousness  is  thereby 
placed  in  right  relations  with  all  his  fellows  in  that  society,  and 
his  influence  is  to  bring  them  into  right  relations  to  himself  and  to 
each  other.  Such  culture  is  not  of  the  few  at  the  cost  of  the  many, 
the  more  the  few  are  cultured  the  better  it  is  for  the  many.  The 
culture  in  righteousness  will  not  neglect  but  will  foster  in  proper 
degree  the  other  kinds  of  culture,  they  will  have  their  important 
though  subordinate  positions,  and  the  culture  in  ease,  in  beauty 
and  in  power  will  also  be  for  the  many.  Wealth,  art  and  do- 
minion will  also  prevail  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  beyond  the  high- 
est dreams  of  the  present,  all  that  can  possibly  be  made  from  the 
culture  of  the  earth  itself  will  be  attained  only  by  the  highest  and 


282  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

widest  culture  of  the  social  nature  of  man,  by  society  cultured  in 
righteousness. 

The  science  of  sociology  will  do  well  to  make  a  careful  and 
special  study  of  the  particular  society  described  in  the  Bible,  the 
society  gathered  around  a  supernatural  revelation  of  God,  since  it 
is  generally  conceded  that  the  marked  feature  of  this  society  is  its 
culture  in  righteousness. 

It  is  difficult  to  consider  any  institution  of  society  by  itself  alone 
since  all  the  institutions  of  society  interblend  with  each  other. 
We  have  already  considered  the  institution  of  the  family,  and  that 
the  family  and  the  house  in  which  it  lives  constitute  the  home; 
now  the  home  is  the  seat  of  culture.  Dike  says  "bad  homes  are  the 
most  potent  cause  of  ignorance  and  crime".  On  the  other  hand 
good  homes  are  the  most  potent  cause  of  light  and  virtue.  De- 
grade the  home  and  heroes  cannot  save  the  state.  Elevate  the 
home  and  the  state  is  secure.  The  laws  and  customs  of  the  par- 
ticular society  of  the  Bible  protected  the  family  and  were  aimed 
to  secure  each  family  a  comfortable  house,  to  that  extent  to  provide 
good  homes.  The  spirit  of  that  society  valued  highly  the  gift  of 
children,  and  in  the  home  fostered  obedience,  self  control  and  un- 
selfish devotion  to  the  common  interests.  That  society  was  gath- 
ered around  a  supernatural  revelation  of  God.  The  kind  of  lan- 
guage used  in  the  home,  the  religious  feeling  that  prevailed,  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  home  afforded  an  atmosphere  of  cul- 
ture in  which  the  child  lived  while  taste  and  character  were  form- 
ing. The  Hebrew  home  life  was  pervaded  by  a  sense  of  God's 
presence  and  reverent  speech  concerning  Him,  and  the  Hebrew 
mother  thought  of  the  child  as  God's  gift  and  taught  the  child  at 
her  knee  to  pray  to  God  and  to  obey  Him.  The  policy  of  that 
society  fostered  the  greatest  possible  number  of  homes  of  excellent 
character,  it  was  a  policy  of  fine  culture. 

We  have  already  considered  the  institution  of  industry,  that 
labor  w^as  regarded  as  honorable  and  that  the  rewards  of  labor 
were  widely  distributed.  The  Particular  Society  of  the  Bible 
gathered  around  a  special  revelation  of  God  found  in  its  relation 
to  Him  the  spirit  in  which  its  members  should  regard  and  treat 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  283 

each  other.  They  were  to  cultivate  the  earth  and  have  dominion 
over  it  and  in  the  exercise  of  this  God-given  commission  they 
found  the  dignity  of  labor,  and  in  working  together  they  were  to 
be  governed  by  the  law,  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself".  The 
institution  of  industry  interblended  with  the  institution  of  culture 
in  that  the  quality  of  righteousness  was  held  uppermost,  filling 
labor  with  obedience  to  God  and  service  of  one  another. 

In  addition  to  the  family  and  industry  though  working  with 
and  through  them,  as  well  as  through  the  institution  of  control 
still  to  be  considered,  were  two  elements  of  the  institution  of  cul- 
ture well  worth  our  careful  consideration. 

The  first  is  the  agency  of  education,  fostered  by  the  particular 
society  of  the  Bible.  We  in  America  may  well  be  proud  of  our 
system  of  education.  We  have  adopted  the  principle  that  the 
money  of  the  people  should  educate  the  children  of  the  people, 
and  the  public  schools  of  all  grades  from  the  kindergarten  to  the 
city  college  and  state  university  are  open  to  rich  and  poor  alike. 
In  all  our  towns  one  of  the  prominent  buildings  is  the  school  house, 
on  every  country  side  there  is  the  school  house,  and  the  flag  of 
the  nation  floating  in  the  breeze  indicates  that  the  school  of  the 
nation  is  in  session  The  report  of  the  Commissioners  of  Educa- 
tion for  1906  shows  that  about  $400,000,000  were  expended  for 
education,  over  $300,000,000  of  which  came  from  the  public 
funds.  More  than  one-fifth  the  entire  public  expenditure  of  the 
nation,  more  than  two-fifths  the  public  expenditure  of  states, 
counties,  cities  and  townships  was  paid  for  common  schools.  The 
enrollment  In  schools  of  all  sorts  for  the  year  1906  was  about 
18,500,000.  One  In  five  of  our  population  Is  In  a  school  of  some 
sort  and  the  average  attendance  of  those  enrolled  was  over  one 
hundred  days.  How  much  this  tends  to  the  culture  of  our  society 
cannot  be  over-estimated,  the  widespread  education  of  the  people. 
From  such  a  modern  standard  It  would  be  dangerous  to  go  back 
to  the  ancient  history  of  any  society  other  than  the  particular 
society  of  the  Bible,  it  would  be  a  contrast  rather  than  a  com- 
parison. 

In  the  very  beginning  of  this  society  stands  Abraham,  and  it  is 


284  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

said  of  him  that  God  knew  he  would  teach  his  children  after  him. 
When  the  society  grew  into  a  nation  God  directed  through  Moses 
that  this  spirit  of  the  father  of  the  race  should  be  fostered  in  every 
family,  "Ye  shall  lay  up  my  words  in  your  heart  and  in  your  soul, 
and  ye  shall  teach  them  your  children,  talking  of  them  when  thou 
sittest  in  thine  house  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  when 
thou  liest  down  and  when  thou  risest  up."  God  further  directed 
through  Moses,  that  some  part  of  the  ornamentation  of  the  dress 
of  the  people,  and  especially  of  the  houses,  and  cities  in  which  they 
dwelt  should  be  significant  of  His  commandments  and  His  deal- 
ings with  them.  He  further  provided  that  books  should  be  writ- 
ten and  preserved,  and  that  they  should  be  read,  telling  of  His 
revelation  of  Himself  to  the  people.  It  was  also  provided  that  the 
land  itself  which  was  their  home,  should  be  a  great  and  constant 
teacher.  Monuments  of  great  events  were  to  be  erected,  signifi- 
cant names  were  given  to  many  places  telling  the  story  of  many 
notable  deeds,  and  in  the  center  of  the  land  visible  from  almost 
all  its  borders  were  the  mountains  of  blessings  and  cursing,  their 
mountain  gloom  and  grandeur  teaching  the  most  valuable  lessons. 
But  not  content  with  the  best  of  all  teachers,  the  parents  in  the 
homes,  and  with  the  impressive  lessons  of  a  storied  land  a  class  of 
men  were  set  apart,  one  of  whose  most  important  duties  was  the 
care  of  the  books  of  laws  and  history,  and  these  were  not  only  to 
be  preserved  and  transcribed  but  they  were  to  be  read  and  ex- 
plained to  all  the  people.  The  Levites  were  to  live  in  cities  scat- 
tered throughout  the  whole  land,  and  had  a  wide  and  strong  in- 
fluence in  the  education  of  the  nation.  David  carried  on  the  work 
of  Moses  in  the  most  complete  organization  of  society.  The 
Levites  were  arranged  in  twelve  courses.  One  course  ministered 
at  Jerusalem,  the  new  capital  of  the  nation  for  a  month,  and  then 
returned  to  their  own  cities,  while  another  course  came  to  the  capi- 
tal. Thus  in  each  year  all  the  Levites  came  in  touch  with  the 
court  life  for  a  month,  while  the  rest  of  the  year  they  ministered 
in  the  whole  land.  Music  has  always  been  regarded  as  having 
great  value  in  the  culture  of  both  mind  and  heart;  while  music 
itself   is   the   language   of   the   heart   it   is   frequently   wedded   to 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  285 

poetry  which  conveys  thought  as  well  as  feeling.  Some  one  has 
said,  "Let  me  make  the  songs  of  a  people  and  I  care  not  who  makes 
their  laws."  A  part  of  the  exercises  in  our  common  schools  today 
is  that  of  song.  David  organized  the  service  of  song  in  the  wor- 
ship of  God  in  a  way  that  spread  the  culture  of  music  among  all 
the  people.  The  great  choir  of  the  Temple  of  four  thousand 
voices  together  with  an  orchestra  of  three  hundred  instruments 
was  assembled  only  on  the  great  feasts.  On  such  occasions  the 
choir  alone,  and  also  at  times  leading  the  chorus  of  all  the  people, 
must  have  made  the  Temple  music  surpass  in  thrilling  grandeur 
anything  our  modern  ears  have  ever  heard.  This  choir  was  kept 
in  fine  training  and  their  influence  was  spread  throughout  the 
nation  by  being  divided  into  twelve  courses,  one  course  served  for 
a  month  at  the  ordinary  Temple  service  and  the  rest  of  the  year 
remained  at  home,  except  when  all  gathered  at  the  great  feasts. 
Thus  each  city  of  the  Levites  had  constantly  its  share  of  eleven- 
twelfths  of  the  great  choir,  and  became  a  center  of  musical  cul- 
ture ;  and  the  music  of  the  great  feasts  must  have  been  well  worth 
a  journey  from  the  remotest  part  of  the  land  to  hear,  and  to  jom 
in  the  great  chorus  of  the  people. 

The  Psalms  arose  largely  for  use  in  the  Temple  service,  and 
many  of  them  are  songs  of  patriotism  as  well  as  of  religion.  Their 
beauty  of  expression  and  depth  of  religious  feeling,  each  song  a 
word  picture  charged  with  the  spirit  of  devotion  to  God  and 
native  land,  make  them  precious  in  all  ages  and  in  all  climes.  It 
is  difficult  to  over  estimate  their  power  of  culture  in  their  own 
age   and   clime. 

It  is  unquestioned  that  this  particular  society  of  the  Bible 
excelled  in  patriotism.  It  is  not  so  generally  recognized  that  they 
at  one  time  were  on  the  verge  of  becoming  world  conquerors. 
David  was  a  great  king,  his  organization  of  the  whole  nation 
into  an  army  secured  military  training  for  all  and  at  the  same 
time  did  not  withdraw  the  men  of  the  nation  from  their  homes 
and  the  ordinary  employments  of  life.  The  soldiers  were  divided 
into  twenty-four  courses  and  only  one  course  was  called  into 
active  service  at  the  capital  for  a  single  month  at  a  time.     Thus 


286  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  military  spirit  and  training  of  the  whole  nation  was  kept 
up  and  the  institutions  of  industry  and  the  family  were  not 
demoralized.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  German  system  today  has  any 
advantage  over  David's  organization.  The  great  mystery  of 
David's  census  shows  two  things ;  the  enormous  army  he  could 
call  into  the  field,  and  that  the  Kingdom  of  Righteousness  was  not 
to  become  a  world  kingdom  by  physical  force,  not  by  the  tramp  of 
armies.  Still  in  estimating  the  institution  of  culture  due  atten- 
tion must  be  given  to  the  spirit  of  patriotism  and  to  the  training, 
discipline  and  powers  of  the  soldier.  We  are  a  peaceful  nation, 
our  culture  is  not  in  the  old  Roman  line,  but  among  our  educa- 
tional agencies  we  have  West  Point  and  Annapolis,  we  have  a 
small  army  and  a  large  voluntary  militia. 

Oratory  cannot  be  over  estimated  as  an  expression  and  a  means 
of  culture.  Philosophy  also  cultures  the  mind  in  trying  to  solve 
the  great  problems  of  existence.  Long  before  Plato  taught  in 
the  groves  of  philosophy  in  Athens,  long  before  Demosthenes 
swayed  the  people  from  the  rostrum,  long  before  Cicero  charmed 
the  Roman  Senate,  there  were  schools  of  the  prophets  in  Judea 
and  great  orators  and  philosophers  arose  and  influenced  the  cul- 
ture of  the  nation.  The  mission  of  the  prophets  was  to  lead  the 
people  to  recognize  that  the  God  who  in  earlier  days  had  made 
special  revelations  of  Himself  had  not  withdrawn  or  lost  His 
interest  in  them ;  that  He  was  present  with  them  at  all  times,  and 
that  they  were  living  under  His  watchful  and  loving  gaze.  These 
prophets  were  preachers  of  righteousness  and  their  method  of 
reaching  the  people  was  by  public  address.  Many  of  them  were 
brave  men  and  risked  their  lives  in  rebuking  arbitrary  kings. 
Many  of  them  were  eloquent  men  assured  of  the  attentive  hear- 
ing of  large  crowds  whenever  it  was  announced  they  were  to 
speak.  Many  of  them  were  men  of  wide  culture  and  deep 
philosophy  and  it  v/as  an  education  to  hear  them.  Others  were 
men  of  little  learning  and  of  great  earnestness,  of  natural  poetic 
and  oratorical  gifts,  and  their  strong  and  lofty  though  rugged 
eloquence  swayed  the  multiude.  As  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the 
early  school  of  the  prophets  in  the  time  of  Samuel  we  are  reminded 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  287 

of  the  camp  meetings  in  the  west  of  our  own  land  less  than  a 
century  ago,  and  of  the  great  political  gatherings  for  feasting  and 
debate;  and  as  we  listen  to  the  fervid  exhortations  of  Methodist 
and  Baptist  preachers,  and  to  the  virile  discussions  of  great  issues 
by  Douglas  and  Lincoln  and  other  giants  of  debate  we  recognize 
a  powerful  agency  in  the  institution  of  culture  of  our  own  nation. 
As  we  stand  with  the  multitude  in  the  courts  of  the  Temple  after 
the  morning  sacrifice  and  listen  to  the  lofty  eloquence  of  Isaiah, 
to  his  nicely  balanced  and  richly  ornamented  periods,  to  his  deep 
philosophy,  strong  reasoning,  to  his  beautiful  imagery  and  deep 
earnestness  we  are  reminded  of  Wendell  Phillips  in  Fanuel  Hall 
and  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  in  Plymouth  Church  and  recog- 
nize what  an  agency  of  culture  we  have  in  the  lecture  and 
pulpit  oratory  of  our  own  land.  The  concise  history  of  the 
Hebrew  people  gives  many  glimpses  of  the  great  Order  of  the 
Prophets,  in  the  early  time,  in  the  time  of  great  prosperity,  in 
the  time  of  gathering  adversity,  in  the  time  of  restoration,  all 
through  the  history,  the  people  were  under  the  spell  of  oratory 
on  the  loftiest  themes;  the  prophets  were  a  large  agency  in  the 
institution  of  culture  in  rightousness. 

The  means  of  communication  in  any  land  properly  belong  to  the 
institution  of  industry  but  not  exclusively;  they  tend  to  the  cul- 
ture of  the  people.  Our  railroads  convey  the  products  of  all  sec- 
tions to  the  centers  of  population,  manufacture  and  commerce, 
but  they  also  carry  the  mails,  the  books  and  papers,  and  they 
afford  means  of  travel  to  our  people.  The  boorish  person  is  one 
who  lives  separate  from  his  fellows,  the  narrow  life  of  his  little 
glen. 

Traveling  in  other  scenes,  meeting  with  other  people  are  means 
of  culture.  There  were  several  features  in  the  Hebrew  life  which 
fostered  these  agencies  of  culture.  Even  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Judges,  in  the  times  of  Deborah  and  Barak,  one  of  the  elements 
of  oppression  was  the  closing  of  the  highways,  restricting  travel  to 
the  byways  of  the  land.  The  life  of  Christ  discloses  his  constant 
journeying  with  His  disciples  and  often  with  large  masses  of  peo- 
ple over  the  highways  of  the  land  with  utmost  ease  and  freedom. 


288  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

The  more  pious  of  the  people  found  in  their  yearly  journeys  to 
the  capital  city,  the  culture  of  travel,  and  of  mingling  with  people 
of  other  places,  and  in  later  times  with  people  of  other  lands. 
When  a  suitable  age  was  reached  the  young  of  these  families 
joined  in  the  journey  from  their  own  small  village,  passed  along 
the  storied  land  and  the  many  flourishing  cities  and  for  a  while 
staying  at  the  homes  of  friends  or  camping  on  the  surrounding 
hills  of  the  city  of  David  they  saw  the  splendid  Temple  of  God 
and  the  magnificent  Palace  of  the  King,  and  all  the  greatness  of 
the  Capital  City,  and  life  was  changed  for  them,  enriched  and 
ennobled  by  the  culture  of  travel.  The  feasts  at  Jerusalem  cul- 
tured not  only  devotion  to  God  but  the  social  nature  of  the  peo- 
ple, old  friends  met,  new  friendships  were  formed,  acquaintances 
were  made  among  all  classes,  famous  men  from  separated  portions 
of  the  land  were  seen,  and  the  feast  was  with  each  other  as  with 
God. 

It  has  been  held  by  many  that  the  Hebrews  were  deficient  in 
the  fine  arts.  Such  have  thought  that  the  second  commandment 
prohibited  the  making  of  images.  This  arises  very  largely  from 
our  efifort  to  shorten  the  already  short  commandment,  to  think 
of  even  fewer  words  as  being  written  on  stone  than  the  full  com- 
mandments. But  in  modern  times  we  have  learned  that  the 
ancient  civilizations  wrote  whole  books  on  stone,  and  the  com- 
mandments are  no  longer  at  all  wonderful  as  being  written  on 
stone,  but  their  wonder  grows  as  a  complete  code  of  laws  for 
mankind.  The  second  commandment  prohibits  not  architecture, 
sculpture  or  painting,  but  the  worship  of  any  work  of  art  as  a 
representation  of  God.  It  does  not  prohibit  dramatizing  the 
actions  and  sayings  of  men  but  the  bringing  of  God  into  the 
drama  of  human  life,  as  represented  in  an  actor.  The  taste  and 
refinement  of  Christian  lands,  loving  art  for  art's  sake,  are  in 
harmony  with  the  commandment.  The  Hebrew  people  in  our 
day  and  in  their  whole  history  since  they  were  expelled  from 
their  own  beautiful  land,  excel  in  the  artistic  sense  and  power. 
Many  of  the  finest  musicians,  sculptors,  painters,  architects  and 
dramatists  belong  to  that  race.     It  hardly  is  conceivable  that  this 


i 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  289 

excellency  has  been  evolved  from  a  deficiency.  When  we  read 
the  Bible  a  little  more  carefully  w^e  see  that  the  general  impres- 
sion of  the  people  was  based  upon  God's  saying  and  directions 
that  fine  artists  as  well  as  fine  orators  were  specially  inspired  of 
God.  In  building  the  Tabernacle,  the  Temple  and  Solomon's 
Palace  great  men  are  named  as  being  filled  with  the  spirit  of  God 
for  various  w^ork  and  ornamentation  of  these  great  buildings,  and 
images  and  colors  are  fully  described.  It  is  quite  evident  that 
the  culture  of  righteousness  was  not  bare  and  cold  and  stiff;  that 
it  loved  grace  and  beauty,  that  it  delighted  in  the  adornment  of 
life. 

A  large  element  in  the  institution  of  culture  is  the  impressive- 
ness  of  buildings  suited  to  their  purposes.  In  our  large  cities  we 
have  the  court  house,  the  city  hall,  maybe  the  capitol  of 
the  state  or  nation,  we  have  the  library  building,  the  school 
house,  maybe  the  college  or  university,  we  have  the  churches, 
maybe  the  cathedral.  These  are  made  of  the  finest  material,  are 
of  great  size  and  of  proper  proportions  and  in  architectural  form 
express  the  great  ideas  of  government,  of  law  and  justice,  of  edu- 
cation and  worship.  These  great  buildings  tell  their  own  story  of 
culture,  and  impressively  train  the  passing  generations  by  their 
unchanging  beauty  and  grandeur.  The  Temple  of  Solomon  fairly 
dominated  the  thought  and  feeling  of  the  people  as  successive 
generations  came  up  to  the  feasts.  Even  when  the  religion  itself 
became  corrupted,  the  great  building  unchanged  in  its  silent 
impressiveness  gave  its  unfailing  culture.  When  it  was  destroyed 
its  memory  lingered  from  father  to  son  until  an  effort  was  made 
to  rebuild  it.  Through  successive  stages  the  rebuilded  Temple 
grew  until  Herod's  Temple,  vied  with  Solomon's  in  mag- 
nificence and  grandeur.  The  culture  of  the  people  was  further 
advanced  by  the  fact  that  the  Temple  was  their  own,  they  could 
frequent  its  courts,  rich  and  poor  alike,  the  learned  and  unlearned, 
those  from  remote  places  in  the  land  as  well  as  the  dwellers  in 
the  capital  city,  all  had  equal  rights  in  the  Temple  of  God. 

It  is  not  known  when  the  synagogue  first  came  into  prom- 
inence, but  it  is  popularly  believed  that  it  was  introduced  after 


290  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  exile.  Certain  it  is  that  in  the  time  of  Christ  every  consider- 
able village  had  its  synagogue  just  as  today  every  town  in  the 
land  has  its  church  and  school  house.  There  are  a  few  hints  in 
the  Old  Testament  of  places  of  assembly  where  the  prophets  were 
accustomed  to  address  the  people.  There  certainly  was  the  need 
of  assembly  places  in  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  land  for 
services  of  prayer  and  praise  and  religious  instruction  from  the 
sacred  books,  as  much  need  in  the  time  of  Solomon  as  in  the  time 
of  Christ.  Solomon's  Temple,  the  great  central  place  of  worship 
no  more  supplied  this  need  than  did  Herod's  Temple  in  the  time 
of  Christ.  There  was  no  greater  need  of  such  places  to  re-estab- 
lish the  worship  of  Jehovah  after  the  exile  than  there  was  to 
foster  this  worship  in  the  time  of  the  Judges.  That  such  fre- 
quent mention  is  not  made  of  them  in  the  history  of  the  kings 
as  is  made  in  the  Gospels  may  arise  from  the  fact  that  the  life 
of  Christ  was  so  largely  one  of  teaching  in  the  synagogues.  The 
assemblies  of  the  people  in  the  gates  and  streets  of  cities,  by  the 
road  side  and  by  the  sea  side  would  be  frequently  and  generally 
pleasant  under  the  Syrian  skies,  but  in  addition  to  these  casual 
assemblies  to  listen  to  a  great  prophet  or  to  consider  subjects  of 
exciting  importance  there  would  naturally  be  places  of  regular 
assembly  for  the  speakers,  and  for  the  consideration  of  matters  of 
ordinary  interest.  That  from  earliest  times  the  Levites  were 
teachers  and  lived  in  all  portions  of  the  land,  and  that  from 
earliest  times  there  were  schools  of  prophets  in  various  parts  of  the 
land,  seem  to  require  places  in  all  parts  of  the  land  where  they 
could  regularly  meet  the  people.  Recent  investigations  along  the 
Nile  and  the  Euphrates  and  in  Palestine  have  discovered  many 
evidences  that  books  were  not  so  rare  in  ancient  times  as  was 
once  supposed  and  that  the  ability  to  read  flourished  as  books 
flourished.  The  worship  by  sacrifice  must  necessarily  ha\T  been 
infrequent,  even  after  the  central  worship  of  the  temple  was  fully 
established,  people  could  assemble  there  only  rarely.  That  in 
times  of  depression  when  the  Temple  itself  was  neglected, 
the  sacred  books  would  be  also  neglected  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at;    the  picture  of  such  times  might  indicate  that  such  books  were 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  291 

very  rare,  almost  unknown.  But  such  times  of  great  depression 
were  themselves  rare.  In  ordinary  times  the  assembly  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  many  towns  of  the  land  for  instruction,  prayer  and 
praise  would  be  the  ordinary  custom,  not  strange  or  unusual 
enough  to  receive  any  mention  in  the  concise  history  of  national 
affairs. 

It  certainly  cannot  be  very  wide  of  the  mark  to  consider  the 
synagogue  as  described  in  the  time  of  Christ  as  a  culmination  of 
a  long  history,  a  history  extending  far  back  of  the  exile  to  the 
early  times  of  the  Judges. 

The  assembly  of  the  people  of  a  town  or  village  or  section  of 
a  city  regularly  once  a  week  on  the  sacred  day  and  frequently  on 
other  days  in  an  appropriate  place  or  building  for  the  purpose  of 
considering  important  matters  in  their  relation  to  God  and  to 
each  other,  is  seen  at  once  to  be  an  agency  of  vast  influence  in 
the  culture  of  a  society.  No  more  democratic  institution  could 
be  devised  than  the  synagogue.  It  belonged  to  all  the  people,  their 
place  of  regular  assembly.  While  there  were  leaders,  the  Levites, 
or  prophets,  in  Christ's  time  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  while  these 
were  to  be  listened  to  as  Christ  directs  in  his  saying,  "the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  sit  on  Moses  seat;  all  things  therefore  whatsoever 
they  bid  you,  do  and  observe" — the  people  were  to  think  and  to 
discuss  matters  for  themselves  as  Christ  further  says,  "but  do 
not  ye  after  their  works,  for  they  say  and  do  not".  They  love  to 
be  called  Teacher  and  to  have  the  highest  seats  in  the  synagogues, 
so  honor  them,  but  judge  for  yourselves.  Questions,  the  discus- 
sion by  others  than  the  leaders  of  the  subject  in  hand,  the  appli- 
cation of  the  law  to  the  regulation  of  the  daily  life  in  the  home, 
in  society  and  in  business,  in  village  affairs  and  in  the  affairs  of 
the  nation,  this  discussion  every  week  in  every  village  of  the  land 
was  an  education  and  culture  constant  and  powerful  and  in  the 
direction  of  righteousness. 

The  literature  of  the  nation  was  a  growth,  and  of  various  kinds. 
Much  of  it  was  history  of  the  early  times,  of  the  beginning  of 
national  life,  and  of  the  later  times,  of  its  unfolding  and  advancing 
national  life.     In  this  history  were  recorded  the  laws  God  gave 


292  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

them  through  their  great  law  givers;  and  the  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  the  passing  periods,  and  the  explanation  of  God's  dealing 
with  them  and  with  the  surrounding  nations.  Then  there  was  a 
large  element  of  poetry,  much  of  it  was  lyric,  but  there  was  some 
epic  and  not  a  little  dramatic,  and  considerable  didactic  poetry, 
and  all  of  it  earnest  and  lofty  with  the  religious  spirit.  In  the 
later  stages  of  the  nations'  life  there  arose  also  a  large  literature 
of  oratory,  probably  sketches  made  by  the  great  orators  of  their 
most  effective  speeches.  This  rich  and  varied  literature  arose  from 
the  culture  of  the  people  in  righteousness,  it  gives  us  a  picture  of 
the  culture  of  the  times,  of  rich  color  and  varied  beauty.  It  was 
this  literature  that  was  read  and  discussed  in  the  assemblies  of  the 
people,  so  the  people  of  all  classes  and  conditions  in  the  whole 
land  became  familiar  with  it  and  were  cultured  by  it.  In  other 
nationalities  the  literature  generally  indicated  the  culture  of  the 
few  and  ministered  to  the  culture  of  the  few,  the  epic  poetry  was 
recited  in  the  houses  of  the  nobles,  to  the  nobles  and  their  friends, 
the  orations  were  delivered  and  recounted  to  the  citizens,  and 
the  vast  number  of  slaves  had  no  advantage  of  it,  the  great  ques- 
tions of  philosophy  were  discussed  by  the  philisophers  and  their 
few  scholars,  while  the  masses  had  no  part  in  it.  But  the  litera- 
ture of  Judea  was  of  the  people  and  for  the  people,  in  the  assem- 
blies of  the  people  it  was  treated  as  the  common  possession  of  all, 
and  was  read  and  discussed  freely  and  constantly. 

If  now  w^e  try  to  trace  the  history  of  our  common  school  system, 
schools  for  all  classes  of  children,  the  children  of  the  people,  of 
the  masses  of  the  people,  we  will  find  it  difficult  to  find  any  trace 
of  such  schools  in  the  history  of  any  ancient  civilization  other  than 
that  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  gathered  around  the 
supernatural  revelation  of  God.  In  the  beginning  He  com- 
manded the  education  of  all  the  children  by  the  parents,  but  also 
as  a  general  society  interest,  to  be  fostered  by  the  tribal  and  na- 
tional spirit.  He  also  provided  a  class  of  teachers,  the  Levites 
who  were  to  be  learned  in  the  law  and  to  teach  it  to  all  the  people. 
In  the  general  policy  of  the  national  life  which  fostered  the  as- 
sembly of  the  people  for  consideration  of  important  matters  the 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  293 

children  were  not  to  be  excluded.  The  early  covenant  made  in 
Moab  under  the  spell  of  the  eloquence  of  Moses  was  a  striking 
instance  of  the  presence  of  children,  which  would  be  an  inciting 
example  for  all  lesser  assemblies.  In  the  later  times  of  the  regular 
weekly  and  semi-weekly  assembly  of  the  people  in  the  synagogues 
of  villages  and  towns  for  worship  and  consideration  of  duties  to 
God  and  man,  the  children  were  welcome  members  of  the  gather- 
ing. In  addition  to  this  general  education  there  are  glimpses  given 
of  the  leader  of  the  synagogue  as  also  the  teacher  of  a  school  for 
children  and  youth,  and  of  the  synagogue  building  being  used 
for  the  double  purpose  of  the  assembly  place  of  the  people  at  cer- 
tain stated  times  on  sacred  and  week  days  and  also  as  the  school 
house  for  the  daily  use  of  the  children  and  youth.  There  were 
also  men  who  acquired  great  reputation  for  teaching,  and  who  had 
schools  of  their  scholars  in  Jerusalem  and  other  large  cities.  The 
title  of  teacher  was  prevalent  and  greatly  honored  and  coveted  in 
the  time  of  Christ.  Thus  the  synagogue  becomes  the  forerunner 
not  only  of  our  church  but  of  our  school  house,  and  in  both  cases 
was  for  all  the  people,  and  a  wide  and  strong  agency  in  the  general 
culture   of   righteousness. 

In  considering  these  many  features  of  the  agency  of  education  it 
must  be  noticed  that  all  were  open  to  and  adapted  to  the  women 
as  well  as  to  the  men.  A  marked  feature  of  the  culture  of  right- 
eousness is  that  it  must  be  for  all  classes  not  only,  but  for  both 
sexes.  Other  lands  may  have  had  a  disregard  for  women.  Other 
kinds  of  culture,  as  of  Greece  may  have  neglected  women,  may 
have  even  dishonored  them  in  the  general  estimation  when  they 
sought  some  degree  of  culture  for  themselves,  but  that  was  the  cul- 
ture of  sensual  pleasure,  of  beauty  of  form,  rather  than  of  char- 
acter. Other  kinds  of  culture  as  of  Rome  may  have  disdained 
women,  may  have  regarded  them  as  unfit  for  soldiers,  for  gaining 
dominion,  for  ruling  the  world..  But  righteousness  consists  largely 
in  the  right  relation  between  men  and  women,  and  any  real  cul- 
ture in  righteousness  must  include  women.  So  the  agency  of  edu- 
cation from  childhood  to  old  age  was  adapted  to  girls  as  well  as 
to  boys  in  the  family,  and  in  the  school,  to  women  as  well  as  to 


294  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

men,  in  the  travel  through  the  storied  land  to  the  Temple  worship, 
in  the  social  feasts,  in  the  assemblies  of  the  people  and  in  the  regu- 
lar  synagogue   services. 

The  second  special  element  in  the  institution  of  culture  in  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible  gathered  around  the  supernatural 
revelation  of  God,  was  the  agency  of  religion.  The  influence  of 
worship  in  the  culture  of  any  society  must  always  be  very  large. 
It  is  one  of  the  laws  of  psychology  that  we  imitate  the  qualities 
of  character  we  admire.  If  the  admiration  is  great,  so  it  may  be 
called  adoration,  if  it  is  fostered  by  special  ceremonies  and  carried 
on  in  the  most  sensitive  moments  and  experiences  of  the  soul,  if  it 
is  incited  by  association  with  those  of  like  feelings,  if  it  is  charged 
with  the  purpose  of  honoring  the  person  in  whom  the  admired 
character  shines,  then  the  culturing  power  of  such  adoration  be- 
comes one  of  the  strongest  forces  in  our  lives.  The  saying,  "Imi- 
tation is  the  sincerest  flattery",  only  brings  out  the  force  of  our 
English  word  worship,  it  is  bringing  the  whole  man  the  physical, 
mental  and  spiritual  nature  into  a  shape  worthy  of  the  being 
worshiped;  it  is  that  imitation  that  is  the  sincerest  worship.  The 
only  way  we  can  honor  God  is  to  grow  like  Him. 

We  need  not  intrude  upon  the  domain  of  theology  to  recognize 
that  the  worship  of  God  cultured  righteousness  in  the  worshipers. 
The  supernatural  revelation  of  God  made  in  the  Bible  is  progres- 
sive, but  the  progress  ever  brings  out  in  greater  clearness  the 
worthy  character  of  God.  He  ever  desires  more  and  more  the 
adoration  of  man,  and  man's  adoration  of  Him  ever  makes  himself 
a  more  worthy  being.  God  revealed  himself  in  Genesis  to  Abra- 
ham as  the  Almighty,  choosing  him  from  the  race  that  He  might 
make  him  a  blessing  to  the  race.  He  revealed  himself  in  Exodus 
as  Righteous,  giving  a  code  of  law  that  calls  for  righteousness  in 
man  to  secure  his  well  being.  He  revealed  Himself  in  Leviticus  as 
Holy,  to  be  worshiped  by  growing  in  holiness.  He  revealed 
Himself  in  Numbers  as  Just,  seeking  the  welfare  of  all  in  their 
true  obedience.  He  revealed  Himself  in  Deuteronomy  as  Love, 
appealing  to  the  people  to  establish  a  covenant  with  Him  in  love. 
He  revealed  Himself  in  all  His  dealings  with  His  people  in  their 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  295 

unfolding  history  as  loving  righteousness.  The  people  were  always 
taught  to  regard  God  not  so  much  as  above  them  in  power  and 
authority,  but  as  Infinite  in  righteousness. 

The  sacrifices  at  the  Altar  and  before  the  Tabernacle  and  Tem- 
ple were  not  to  propitiate  Him,  except  for  their  sin,  the  reverse 
of  righteousness,  or  lack  of  it;  and  this  sin  was  not  only  toward 
Him,  but  included  their  sin  against  their  fellow  men.  The  sacri- 
fice was  in  effect  their  confession  of  their  unrighteousness  either  in 
general  or  in  some  particular,  their  sense  of  its  desert  of  punish- 
ment, and  their  sorrow  for  it  and  abandonment  of  it,  and  it  as- 
sured them  on  His  part  of  their  forgiveness  and  of  their  restora- 
tion to  fellowship  with  Him.  The  feasting  upon  the  sacrifice  was 
the  fellowship  of  restored  righteousness.  The  sacrifice  of  whole 
burnt  offering  was  the  expression  of  entire  devotion  to  God,  and 
this  could  be  only  in  the  way  of  righteousness.  We  find  in  Moses 
and  Samuel  as  well  as  in  Isaiah  and  Malachi,  in  the  earliest  times 
of  the  worship  by  sacrifice  in  Tabernacle  and  Solomon's  Temple 
as  well  as  after  the  exile  when  they  rebuilded  the  Temple,  that 
the  sacrifices  did  not  accomplish  anything  in  themselves,  that  their 
value  was  only  in  expressing  penitence,  fellowship  and  devotion, 
and  that  the  people  always  understood  that  obedience  was  better 
than  sacrifice,  that  righteousness,  judgment  and  mercy  were  the 
only  way  in  which  they  could  worship  the  righteous  God.  Through 
the  sacrifices  God  taught  the  people  His  holiness,  and  that  they 
must  be  holy  to  honor  Him;  this  is  the  unfolding  of  His  progres- 
sive revelation  of  Himself  as  found  especially  in  Leviticus,  the 
book  of  worship.  The  animals  of  the  land  were  to  be  divided 
into  two  classes,  the  clean  and  the  unclean,  and  the  division  was 
not  arbitrary,  but  in  the  nature  of  the  animals.  Only  the  cleanest 
of  the  clean  animals  could  be  offered  to  God  in  sacrifice.  This 
clean  animal  might  not  be  offered  by  the  worshiper  in  person, 
but  only  by  a  member  of  a  set-apart  class  of  men,  clean  men  in 
clean  garments;  not  in  any  place  that  might  happen  but  only  in  a 
consecrated  place,  a  clean  place;  not  in  any  way  that  might  be 
devised  but  only  by  cleansing  fire.  The  idea  of  cleanness  was 
lifted  up  by  a  series  of  comparisons,  and  the  one  who  felt  unclean 

80 


296  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

in  an  unrighteous  life  might  hope  for  the  cleanness  of  righteous- 
ness by  following  God's  teachings  and  directions  in  His  worship. 

The  revelation  of  the  righteousness  of  God  culminated  in  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ.  We  are  to  think  of  and  to  love  God  as  our 
Father,  and  the  very  first  petition  of  our  hearts  in  prayer  is  that 
His  name  is  to  be  hallowed,  that  is  that  He  is  to  be  regarded  as 
holy  by  us  and  by  all  men.  We  are  to  worship  God  in  Christ, 
and  this  worship  must  be  true  imitation — such  an  adoration  of  Him, 
that  we  by  the  laws  of  our  nature  grow  like  Him.  There  is  no 
sincere  worship  of  Christ  without  some  degree  of  Christ-likeness. 
The  more  worship  of  Christ  the  more  Christ-likeness.  WTien 
we  describe  Christ  we  say  "He  is  a  lover  of  mankind";  to  the 
extent  of  the  strength  and  sincerity  of  our  worship  of  Him  we 
must  be  lovers  of  mankind.  The  worship  of  God  as  fully  revealed 
in  Christ  regards  Him  as  our  Father  and  man  as  our  brother,  and 
to  the  extent  and  sincerity  of  our  worship  we  become  lovers  of 
God  and  of  men,  we  grow  in  righteousness  towards  God  and  man. 
Where  there  is  filial  love  toward  God  there  must  be  fraternal  love 
toward  man,  and  the  degree  of  intensity  in  the  one  case  is  the 
exact  measure  of  the  intensity  in  the  other.  The  man  who  thinks 
he  loves  God  and  does  not  love  man,  fools  himself. 

The  institution  of  culture  includes  all  these  agencies  that  tend 
to  the  development  of  all  the  powers  of  any  society  harmoniously 
and  in  due  proportion  to  its  complete  being.  It  includes  the  fam- 
ily, industry  and  especially  education  and  religion.  Through  all 
the  relationships  of  their  social  life,  for  all  classes  and  conditions, 
for  all  ages  and  for  both  sexes  the  policy  of  the  Hebrew  nation 
was  through  all  the  agencies  of  the  institution  of  culture  to 
develop  righteousness.  In  our  own  land  the  institution  of  culture 
embraces  both  the  school  house  and  the  church,  they  are  free  for 
all  the  people,  they  are  not  for  one  class  more  than  another,  and  as 
they  combine  their  influence,  the  culture  in  righteousness  advances 
and  society  becomes  better  qualified  for  complete  living.  Among 
all  the  agencies  of  culture  the  worship  of  the  Righteous  God 
according  to  the  laws  of  the  mind  works  steadily  and  powerfully 
righteousness  of  character,  a  character  that  like  Christ  loves  and 


INSTITUTION  OF  CULTURE  297 

strives  to  bless  all  mankind.  In  the  Kingdom  of  God  the 
righteousness  of  love,  that  seeks  the  true  well  being  of  all  the 
members  of  society  will  be  the  highest  and  strongest  culture,  the 
culture  of  the  masses  of  mankind  in  righteousness.  There  will  be 
the  culture  of  wealth,  of  beauty,  of  dominion,  a  culture  of  all 
man's  powers  and  of  all  the  arts,  the  richest  enjoyment  and  widest 
possession  of  all  the  forces  and  the  products  of  earth,  but  these 
will  be  only  parts  in  the  wide  culture  of  righteousness,  for  all  men 
Will  then  feel  and  act  as  children  of  God  and  brothers  of  each 
other. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  Institution  of  Control. 

The  particular  Society  of  the  Bible  gathered  around  a  super- 
natural revelation  of  God  differs  somewhat  in  the  form  and  spirit 
of  its  government  from  the  general  society  of  the  race.  This  is 
seen  in  its  beginning  and  in  its  advancing  stages  until  it  culminates 
in  the  teachings  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  concerning  the  King- 
dom of  God.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  also  that  the  spirit  and 
form  of  government  prevailing  in  the  general  society  of  the  race 
should  frequently  influence  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the  particu- 
lar society  of  the  Bible,  as  they  meet  and  even  mingle  with  each 
other.  The  first  form  of  government  both  in  time  and  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  the  fundamental  form,  was  probably  that  of 
the  family.  The  father  of  the  family  being  the  strongest  member 
of  it  during  at  least  the  formative  stages  was  the  unquestioned 
head.  When  he  grew  feeble  in  age  the  custom  of  loyalty  to  him 
was  too  firmly  established  to  be  lightly  cast  aside,  the  sense  of 
origin  and  of  gratitude  confirmed  it,  and  his  rule  continued  after 
his  superior  strength  had  vanished.  The  patriarchal  stage  of  the 
Bible  sociology  is  true  to  nature. 

The  supernatural  revelation  of  God  added  to  it  a  distinctive 
feature.  It  made  plain  that  the  source  of  authority  was  God  him- 
self, and  that  the  head  of  the  family  clothed  with  authority  from 
Him  was  responsible  for  the  exercise  of  it  at  all  times  to  God.  It 
made  plain  also  that  the  giver  of  life  was  God  himself,  and  that 
the  children  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  were  first  of  all  God's 
children  and  should  be  governed  as  such,  they  were  entrusted  to 
the  parents  to  be  brought  up  for  God.  The  spirit  of  a  father 
may  sometimes  be  tyrannical,  and  this  may  be  strong  enough  to 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  299 

over-ride  the  parental  instinct,  such  a  father  may  exercise  his 
power  of  control  for  his  own  profit  and  pleasure  rather  than  for  the 
welfare  of  the  children.  This  was  checked  by  the  supernatural 
revelation  of  God.  The  form  of  government  was  the  same  but 
the  spirit  of  government  in  the  patriarchal  family  of  the  Bible 
was  somewhat  different  from  that  ruling  in  the  patriarchal  fam- 
ilies of  the  race. 

The  development  of  the  head  of  the  family  into  the  chieftain 
of  a  tribe  or  tribes  was  generally  brought  about  by  pressure  from 
without  as  well  as  by  growth  from  within.  We  catch  a  glimpse 
of  this  in  the  case  of  Abraham  rescuing  Lot,  and  in  the  later 
meetings  of  Jacob  and  Esau,  but  this  development  was  rudely 
checked  by  the  slavery  in  Egypt.  Here  the  government  was  that 
of  Egypt  and  it  was  cruelly  for  its  own  benefit,  instead  of  seeking 
the  welfare  of  the  governed,  it  sought  to  check  their  growth  and 
to  crush  their  spirit  for  its  own  prosperity.  The  slaves  themselves 
seem  to  have  had  through  all  the  cruel  years  a  pride  of  race  which 
secured  as  far  as  possible  race  purity,  maintained  family  life  and 
traced  descent  carefully  and  proudly  through  the  twelve  patriarchs 
to  Jacob,  Isaac  and  Abraham.  The  traditions  of  the  supernatural 
revelations  of  God  made  to  these  fathers  of  the  race,  including  His 
promise  to  bring  them  out  of  their  slavery,  were  cherished  by  them 
and  gave  to  the  family  government  it  helped  to  preserve  the  con- 
tinued spirit  of  responsibility  to  God,  trust  in  Him  and  hope  in 
His  promise.  The  striking  feature  of  the  long  slavery  was  that 
the  family  was  not  broken  up  as  it  is  in  slavery  generally,  but  at 
the  end  of  several  hundred  years  comes  out  clear  and  distinct. 
The  great  host  of  slaves  Moses  led  out  of  Egypt  was  not  an  un- 
organized mob  freed  from  the  only  government  it  had  known, 
that  of  its  masters,  it  had  the  fundamental  form  of  government  in 
itself,  it  was  twelve  tribes  of  families  of  one  race,  more  like  an 
army  than  a  mob. 

The  supernatural  revelations  of  God  renewed  in  bringing  them 
out  of  slavery  and  training  them  in  the  wilderness  tended  to  in- 
crease the  peculiar  spirit  of  responsibility  to  God  in  their  family 
government,  quickened  now  by  gratitude  to  Him  for  the  marvelous 


300  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

deliverance  He  had  wrought  from  the  long  and  cruel  slaver}^  and 
for  the  equally  marvelous  care  His  presence  afforded  them.  The 
form  of  government  now  evolved  under  the  direction  of  God 
himself  was  suitable  to  tribes  grown  too  large  in  themselves  for 
merely  tribal  government,  and  too  many  to  dwell  together  in  in- 
dependence of  each  other.  They  had  become  a  nation  and  though 
a  nation  in  migration  they  must  have  some  national  government 
for  the  present,  and  that  too  a  government  which  will  enable 
them  to  take  possession  of  and  hold  the  land  of  promise.  Here  as 
in  the  patriarchal  stage  the  Bible  sociology  is  true  to  nature.  A 
government  must  arise  suitable  to  the  present  environment  with 
an  outlook  upon  the  hoped-for  future.  But  here  also  the  super- 
natural revelation  of  God  adds  its  own  distinctive  features.  God 
in  his  great  plan  of  evolution  in  nature  does  not  throw  away  the 
elements  of  past  growth  but  conserves  them,  builds  upon  them  and 
when  necessary  adds  to  them.  So  in  the  evolution  of  the  social 
nature  of  man  in  the  institution  of  government  it  is  the  unfolding 
of  God's  plan  wherever  formed,  whether  limited  in  small  groups, 
hemmed  in  by  high  mountain  ranges,  or  large  groups  limited  alone 
by  broad  continents.  The  evolution  in  each  case  will  depend 
much  upon  its  environment  of  land,  of  neighbors  and  communica- 
tion with  them,  and  also  upon  the  purpose  and  will  of  man.  It 
is  obvious  that  a  small  departure  taken  at  first  from  the  lines  of 
family  development  may  lead  in  several  generations  to  wide  and 
fixed  results  in  the  form  and  spirit  of  government,  foreign  to  the 
true  idea  of  family  welfare.  A  tyrannical  head  of  a  family,  of 
great  force  of  mind  and  will,  may  become  the  chieftain  of  a  tribe 
in  the  time  of  a  dangerous  assault  from  without,  and  by  his  suc- 
cessful leadership  in  conflict  may  entrench  himself  as  permanent 
chieftain  of  the  tribe.  This  power  may  be  held  so  firmly  for  so 
long  a  time  that  when  he  dies  his  son  equally  strong  and  head- 
strong may  grasp  and  hold  it,  and  the  chieftain  becomes  a  king. 
The  ruling  of  the  family  for  the  welfare  of  the  family  is  often 
defeated  by  the  tyrannical  spirit  of  the  father.  So  the  ruling  of 
a  nation  for  the  welfare  of  the  nation  is  often  defeated  by  the 
tyrannical  spirit  of  the  king. 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  301 

All  government  is  an  evolution.  There  must  be  the  institution 
of  control  in  any  society.  Government  of  some  kind  vi^herever 
men  in  considerable  numbers  dwell  together  arises  at  once.  That 
the  government  should  be  for  the  welfare  of  the  governed  will  be 
acknowledged  as  a  theory  at  once,  and  without  question.  It  may 
be  acknowledged  even  that  all  government  has  this  ideal  in  its 
static  form,  and  is  evolving  with  greater  or  less  force  to  its  attain- 
ment. But  it  is  also  to  be  confessed  without  question  that  many 
governments  in  the  history  of  the  past  and  even  existing  today 
fall  far  short  of  the  ideal,  and  this  is  true  whatever  form  the 
government  may  take  whether  monarchial,  autocratic  or  demo- 
cratic. Frequently  a  democratic  government  has  been  a  large 
autocracy,  as  in  ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  a  government  by  the 
whole  body  of  citizens,  but  beneath  them  was  a  large  body  of 
slaves,  who  were  governed  with  very  little  regard  for  their  wel- 
fare. 

There  are  several  features  in  the  sociology  of  the  Bible  which 
are  worthy  of  special  attention.  These  mark  the  evolution  of  gov- 
ernment under  the  special  direction  of  God  as  like  and  still  unlike 
the  usual  evolution  of  the  institution  of  control  under  man's 
direction.  We  cannot  say  that  they  afford  for  us  today  a  clear 
direction  of  what  the  evolution  should  be  with  us,  of  what  form 
it  should  take  or  what  spirit  it  should  possess,  of  what  ideals  we 
should  consciously  form  and  wasely  and  earnestly  strive  to  attain. 
Circumstances  and  conditions  are  far  different,  the  whole  environ- 
ment of  land  and  age  and  other  institutions  has  greatly  changed. 
Still  we  may  be  able  to  gain  some  valuable  lessons  from  the  way 
God  sought,  in  that  early  time  and  with  the  material  he  had, — a 
race  of  slaves  just  freed  from  slavery,  and  living  a  migratory 
life, — to  develop  a  government  for  the  welfare  of  the  governed,  a 
government  under  which  the  recent  slaves  would  become  a  race  of 
freedom-loving  citizens  occupying  and  developing  their  own 
national   domain. 

Three  distinct  features  are  added  to  the  human  development  by      >* 
the  special  revelation  of  God;    it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
distinctive  features  first  added  to  the  family  control  remain,  the 


302  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

distinctive  features  now  to  be  considered  do  not  take  the  place  of 
the  first  or  in  any  way  diminish  their  force,  but  are  added  to  them. 

The  first  to  be  noted  is  that  many  important  offices  were  to 
be  filled  by  popular  suffrage.  God  adopted  the  suggestion  of  the 
father-in-law  of  Moses  which  arose  from  the  felt  need  of  the  case, 
and  when  Moses  took  his  farewell  of  the  people  he  gave  them 
under  the  direction  of  God  a  large  privilege  and  duty  of  self 
government.  He  told  them  God  commanded  them  "Judges  and 
officers  shalt  thou  make  thee  in  all  thy  gates  according  to  thy 
tribes  and  they  shall  judge  the  people  with  righteous  judgment". 
These  elected  officers  were  very  close  to  the  people  in  their  gov- 
ernment, it  was  a  very  effective  system  of  local  self  government, 
they  were  to  be  rulers  of  thousands,  of  hundreds,  of  fifties  and  of 
tens.  Bryce,  in  The  American  Commonwealth  has  said  of  our 
own  government  that  the  most  powerful  legislative  body  in  the 
state  or  nation  is  the  Town  Meeting  or  Council,  that  the  most 
important  court  is  that  of  the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  these  are  pow- 
erful because  they  stand  so  near  the  people,  to  influence  and  rule 
the  people,  and  by  their  elective  appointment  they  express  the  will 
of  the  people  for  their  own  government. 

God  prescribed  also  the  character  of  the  men  the  people  should 
elect  to  these  offices,  "They  should  be  able  men,  such  as  fear  God; 
men  of  truth,  hating  unjust  gain".  "Thou  shalt  not  wrest  judg- 
ment, thou  shalt  not  respect  persons,  neither  shalt  thou  take  a 
gift".  These  qualities  meet  our  own  Thomas  Jefferson's  tests. 
"He  must  be  just,  honest,  capable" — and  add  the  one  that  inspires 
the  others,  "he  must  fear  God".  It  would  certainly  be  well  for 
the  American  people  if  they  elected  to  office  only  men  who  could 
measure  up  somewhat  to  this  lofty  ideal. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  this  large  element  of  elected  officers  in 
every  part  and  division  of  the  land  had  a  very  large  control  under 
God ;  that  they  formed  not  only  courts  to  try  contested  cases 
and  interpret  laws  in  their  application  to  persons  and  events ;  but 
were  administrative  officers  as  well,  to  enforce  laws,  to  secure  the 
orderly  conduct  of  life  in  villages,  and  towns  and  cities;  and 
there  are  frequent  indications  of  their  possessing  legislative  powers 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  303 

also,  to  make  enactments  to  meet  new  needs,  of  course  within  the 
sphere  of  their  discovery  of  God's  will  for  his  people.  That  there 
were  grades  or  ranks  of  these  elected  officers  in  all  these  respects 
is  evident  from  the  directions  given  by  God  through  Moses  to 
carry  appeal  cases,  or  cases  too  difficult  for  satisfactory  decision, 
to  the  great  central  court  of  the  nation.  The  decision  of  that 
highest  administrative,  legislative  or  judicial  body  was  to  be  final. 
"Thou  shalt  do  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  law  which  they 
shall  teach  thee,  and  according  to  the  judgment  which  they  shall 
tell  thee".  So  the  large  local  self  government  was  a  part  of  the 
strong  central  government,  it  arose  in  the  need  and  use  of  the 
migratory  life  in  the  wilderness  and  it  became  established  in  the 
occupancy  and  control  of  their  later  home  land. 

A  strange  feature  of  these  elected  officers  is  that  no  mention  is  *^ 
made  of  their  term  of  office.  This  may  arise  from  the  concise- 
ness of  the  historical  narrative,  and  it  was  not  needed  as  the  peo- 
ple were  well  acquainted  with  this  detail.  It  seems  certain  how- 
ever that  the  people  could  depose  an  officer  who  did  not  measure 
up  to  the  character  prescribed  by  God  himself,  by  electing  a  succes- 
sor. And  it  may  be  that  the  elected  officer  retained  the  office 
while  he  possessed  the  required  character.  Good  behavior  and 
efficiency  in  office  were  thus  secured  and  rewarded  by  the  indef- 
initeness  of  the  term  of  office.  Another  striking  feature  is  that 
no  mention  is  made  of  any  compensation  for  the  service,  there  ■' 
may  have  been  such,  but  the  silence  indicates  that  it  was  not  an 
important  motive  to  office,  that  the  officers  were  to  be  of  such  pub- 
lic spirit  that  the  rendering  of  service  was  the  motive  to  office. 

Of  all  the  republics  we  have  any  knowledge  of  in  the  ancient  -  0 
world  this  Republic  instituted  by  God  himself  gave  the  most 
power  to  the  largest  number  of  the  people,  and  was  most  sensi- 
tive and  flexible  to  the  will  of  the  people.  Slavery  was  so  small 
an  element  in  the  social  life  of  the  Hebrews,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  that  it  could  be  ignored,  and  this  feature  of  government  was 
therefore  by  all  the  people  for  their  own  welfare. 

Two  elements  enter  into  good  government,  the  stability  of  the 
state,  of  the  organized  form  of  social  order,  and  the  liberty  of 


304  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

the  individual.  These  two,  social  order  and  individual  liberty 
as  related  to  each  other  and  as  one  or  the  other  flourishes  or 
decays  make  up  the  history  of  nations.  When  individual  liberty 
is  crushed  it  either  tamely  submits  and  the  citizens  deteriorate,  or 
it  rises  in  rebellion  to  cast  oiif  its  chains  and  civil  war  results,  or  it 
grows  into  the  consciousness  of  its  wrongs  and  into  intelligent 
and  wise  efforts  to  peacefully  secure  its  rights.  It  is  quite  evi- 
dent that  God  provided  in  this  government  He  directed,  a  way  in 
which  individual  liberty  and  social  order  could  regulate  and  foster 
each  other. 

The  second  feature  of  the  institution  of  control  secured  by 
the  supernatural  revelation  of  God  was  his  direction  that  a  large 
and  important  class  of  officers  should  be  supplied  by  heredity. 
These  hereditary  officers  were  united  with  the  elected  officers  in 
one  out  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  government.  The  service  of 
the  priesthood  could  only  be  rendered  by  the  hereditar}'  officers, 
the  service  of  the  army  by  elected  officers,  but  the  civil  service  was 
to  be  rendered  by  both  elected  and  hereditary  officers  together. 
The  tribe  of  Levi  was  selected  by  God  instead  of  the  first  born 
of  all  the  families  of  all  the  tribes,  and  set  aside  for  certain  defi- 
nite and  clearly  defined  purposes.  This  secured  the  preservation 
of  the  family  life  in  its  strong  organization  and  purity,  each  first 
born  being  directed  to  care  for  the  family  welfare,  and  while  his 
position  secured  him  the  respect  of  all  and  a  large  influence,  his 
only  direct  influence  upon  the  larger  social  control  was  in  being 
elected  himself  or  in  electing  others  to  the  elective  offices.  The 
Levites  thus  became  a  special  class,  and  provision  was  made  for 
their  support  by  the  nation  as  a  whole.  But  we  are  not  to  think 
of  the  Levites  as  a  privileged  class  supported  in  ease  and  luxury, 
that  was  carefully  guarded  against,  they  were  rather  a  class  set 
apart  to  a  constant,  important  and  difficult  service.  They  were 
to  minister  for  all  the  people  at  the  central  Tabernacle  or  Temple. 
This  was  not  at  all  like  a  modern  church  set  apart  only  for  wor- 
ship and  used  only  at  a  few  stated  times.  The  Tabernacle,  and 
after  it  the  Temple,  was  the  palace  of  the  Great  King,  where  he 
dwelt  in  the  midst  of  the  people.     God  dwelling  in  this  palace 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  305 

could  be  consulted  by  the  people  through  the  Levites.  He  was 
the  source  of  all  authority  and  the  Levites  were  the  interpreters 
and  conveyors  of  this  authority.  The  service  of  the  priesthood 
included  the  worship  of  God,  they  represented  the  people  to  God, 
this  could  only  be  rendered  by  a  family  of  the  tribe  of  Levi ; 
but  the  priests  also  represented  God  to  the  people.  When  David 
and  Solomon  and  the  succeeding  kings  had  their  own  palace  and 
court  still  they  w^ere  only  vice-roys,  the  real  King  was  God.  The 
Levites  were  members  of  the  court  of  the  Great  King,  they  cared 
for  and  ministered  at  the  Palace. 

But  the  whole  tribe  of  Levi  was  not  needed  at  all  times  at  the 
central  Palace,  only  selected  ones  and  successive  portions  of  the 
Levites  ministered  at  any  one  time  in  the  Capitol.  The  tribe 
was  scattered  among  all  the  tribes  of  the  people,  their  cities  were 
scattered  through  the  whole  land.  The  whole  tribe  was  kept  in 
constant  touch  with  the  court  life  at  the  capital  by  the  successive 
delegations  taking  their  turns  in  ministering  there.  For  the  larger 
portion  of  the  time  the  Levites  dwelt  in  their  own  cites  among  the 
people  of  the  whole  land.  This  portion  of  their  time  and  strength 
was  not  to  be  spent  in  idleness,  they  were  constantly  to  be  engaged 
in  teaching  the  people  how  to  live  and  in  ruling  and  judging  the 
people.  In  this  large  civil  service  in  the  institution  of  .  control 
they  were  associated  with  the  elected  officers.  There  seems  no 
indication  that  these  two  classes  of  officers  were  each  organized 
by  itself  in  either  the  legislative,  administrative  or  judicial  depart- 
ments of  the  government,  there  was  no  upper  or  lower  house,  no 
legal  or  lay  bench  either  in  the  lower  grades  of  local  government, 
or  in  the  higher  grades  at  the  many  centers  of  tribal  government, 
or  at  the  one  center  of  the  national  life. 

While  the  two  classes  of  officers  were  not  separated  the  Levites 
must  have  secured  the  stronger  influence  had  it  not  been  for  two 
provisions  wisely  adapted  to  check  their  grasp  of  power.  The 
Levites  had  the  advantage  of  greater  familiarity  with  the  princi- 
ples of  government,  cultured  by  the  heredity  of  the  leadership 
quality  and  by  the  spirit  and  training  of  family  life  in  official 
relations.     This  was  fostered   largely  by  the  special   service  all 


3o6  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

were  in  their  turn  required  to  render  at  the  central  court.  This 
advantage  of  skill  and  permanency  of  office  was  met  by  the  elected 
officers  living  closer  to  the  people,  coming  from  them  as  chosen 
by  them.  Staid  experience  and  culture  belonged  to  the  Levites. 
The  fresh  blood  and  enthusiastic  spirit  belonged  to  the  elected 
officers.  The  institution  of  control  thus  secured  the  advantage 
of  both. 

The  second  provision  checking  the  Levites  from  grasping  un- 
due power  was  that  they  were  expressly  debarred  from  holding 
real  estate.  The  elective  officers  of  all  grades  were  unpaid,  they 
could  hold  property  and  carry  on  the  ordinary  employments  of 
life,  and  served  in  the  government  for  the  honor  and  privilege  of 
service.  The  Levites  were  learned  and  skilled  in  government 
but  they  were  restricted  in  holding  property^  they  were  supported 
by  the  people  generally,  they  could  never  be  a  rich  and  inde- 
pendent class,  could  not  domineer  over  the  people,  must  be  the  ser- 
vants of  the  people,  must  use  their  learning  and  skill  not  for  self 
aggrandizement  but  for  the  welfare  of  the  governed.  Where 
learning,  official  power  and  wealth  combine  an  autocracy  is  apt 
to  arise,  living  for  itself.  Licurgus,  Solon  and  Numa  with  all 
their  wisdom  never  devised  such  a  way  to  check  the  grasp  which 
learning,  office  and  property  combined  might  take  of  political 
power,  to  use  it  for  the  oppression  rather  than  the  welfare  of  the 
governed.  God  guarded  against  this  in  the  government  he  di- 
rected, securing  by  the  check  of  the  elected  officers  and  by  the 
prohibition  of  wealth  of  the  hereditary  officers,  all  the  cultured 
skill  of  the  one  and  the  vigor  of  the  other  for  securing  the  welfare 
of  the  governed. 

The  third  distinct  feature  of  the  institution  of  control  secured 
by  the  special  revelation  of  God  was  their  choice  of  God  as  their 
King,  the  source  of  supreme  authority.  Astounding  as  it  seems 
to  the  ordinary  way  we  have  studied  our  Bibles  for  theological 
truth  there  stands  forth  the  great  sociological  truth  that  at  the 
close  of  the  training  in  the  wilderness  God  submitted  Himself  to 
the  suffrages  of  the  people  and  asked  them  to  elect  Him  as  their 
sovereign.     The  book  of  Deuteronomy  has  been  studied  a  great 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  307 

deal  in  modern  times  and  widely  different  views  have  been  taken 
of  it,  but  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  great  election  it  describes, 
the  election  by  a  nation  of  its  Sovereign.  The  last  four  of  the 
five  books  of  Moses  may  be  called  constitutional  history.  Who 
should  govern  and  how,  the  various  departments  of  government, 
the  laws  which  were  to  be  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  na- 
tional life,  the  formation  of  new  laws,  the  interpretation  of  law, 
the  enforcement  of  law,  the  maintaining  of  social  order  are  re- 
counted, and  all  this  culminates  in  the  book  of  Deuteronomy. 

In  the  book  of  Numbers  the  orderly  conduct  of  camp  and  march 
is  fully  described,  the  impression  this  made  upon  Balaam  is  told, 
showing  to  him  the  controlled  power  of  such  complete  order:  the 
swift  punishment  inflicted  upon  those  attempting  to  break  this 
order  is  told,  thus  guarding  the  host  from  becoming  a  powerless 
mob.  The  Tabernacle,  the  Palace  of  God  their  King  is  in  the 
center  of  the  camp,  on  each  side  are  the  nearby  tents  of  the  Levites. 
Further  removed  but  arranged  in  complete  order  are  the  tents 
of  the  twelve  tribes.  In  front  of  the  Tabernacle  is  the  first 
division  of  three  tribes,  on  the  right  side  the  second  division  of 
three  tribes,  on  the  rear  the  third  division  of  three  tribes,  on  the 
left  side  the  fourth  division  of  three  tribes.  When  the  signal  is 
given  to  break  camp  and  take  up  the  march  there  is  no  confusion, 
every  family  of  the  Levites  knows  its  prescribed  duty,  every  divi- 
sion and  every  tribe  knows  its  right  place,  all  is  complete  order. 

The  first  division  takes  up  its  march,  the  leading  tribe  at  the 
head.  Then  follow  the  families  of  the  Levites  with  the  outer 
curtains  of  the  Tabernacle.  The  second  division  of  the  tribes 
falls  in  line.  Then  follow  the  Levites  with  the  carefully  guarded 
holy  place  of  the  Tabernacle.  The  third  division  of  the  tribes 
follows,  and  the  fourth  division  of  the  tribes  brings  up  the  rear. 
When  the  next  camping  place  is  reached  and  the  signal  is  given 
to  pitch  tents  the  same  order  is  observed.  The  first  division  en- 
camps. Then  the  outer  curtains  of  the  Tabernacle  are  set  up. 
The  second  division  of  the  tribes  encamps  to  the  right  of  the 
Tabernacle.  Then  the  carefully  guarded  holy  of  holies,  the 
dwelling  place  of  the  great  King  is  brought  into   the  curtained 


3o8  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Tabernacle,  and  no  eye  has  seen  its  mysterious  mercy  seat.  Those 
who  at  breaking  camp  took  down  the  great  curtain  carried  it 
forward  and  covered  the  mercy  seat,  the  same  ones  now  at  the 
forming  the  camp  lifting  the  curtain  from  the  mercy  seat,  walked 
backward  and  hung  the  curtain  before  the  Holy  of  Holies.  The 
Holy  of  Holies  was  a  cube,  its  boards  covered  with  gold  and  it  was 
absolutely  dark,  in  it  was  the  Mercy-Seat,  the  golden  chest  contain- 
ing the  Ten  Commandments  and  covered  with  the  adoring  figures 
of  the  Cherubim,  fit  dwelling  place  of  the  perfect,  infinitely  rich 
in  His  nature  and  mysterious  King,  the  Merciful  and  the  Just, 
the  Sovereign  of  the  nation.  Then  followed  the  third  division  of 
the  tribes  and  encamped  at  the  rear  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  the 
fourth  division  encamped  at  the  left  side.  All  was  complete  order, 
a  social  order  in  camp  and  on  the  march  and  again  in  camp.  Thus 
they  come  to  the  plains  on  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  are 
ready  to  enter  the  promised  land,  when  the  signal  is  given  and  once 
more  they  form  a  camp. 

The  book  of  Deuteronomy  is  sometimes  called  the  book  of 
great  orations,  it  might  rather  be  called  the  book  of  the  great 
election  of  God  to  be  the  King  of  the  nation.  Much  pressure  is 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  people  to  make  the  choice,  all  the  deliver- 
ance, training  and  discipline  of  the  past  few  years  are  pressed 
home  by  Moses,  the  great  orator,  in  four  masterly  orations;  but 
after  all,  the  election  is  the  main  thing.  After  a  week  or  so  is 
passed  in  camp  the  people  begin  to  wonder  why  there  is  such  de- 
lay, when  one  morning  the  silver  trumpets  give  the  signal  for  an 
assembly  of  the  people  at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle.  The 
meaning  of  the  signal  is  well  known  and  the  heads  of  the  tribes 
and  the  elected  officers  of  the  tribes,  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  take  their  way  from  the  various  camps  and  gather,  perhaps 
a  thousand  men,  at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle,  while  all  the 
people  watch  and  wait  in  great  suspense.  Then  Moses  their 
revered  leader  comes  out  from  the  Tabernacle  and  speaks  to  the 
assembled  heads  and  officers  of  the  tribes  his  first  great  oration. 
A  greater  occasion,  a  greater  oration,  a  greater  orator  it  will  be 
hard  to  find  in  all  the  history  of  delegated  or  popular  assemblies. 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  309 

The  oration  over  the  representatives  who  have  been  duly  im- 
pressed return  to  the  people,  and  the  report  spreads  through  the 
w^hole  camp.  The  burden  of  the  report  is  startling.  Moses  says 
he  is  deposed,  he  viall  not  be  allowed  to  lead  us  to  the  capture  of 
our  promised  land.  A  week  or  so  passes  and  the  signal  of  assembly 
is  again  given  and  the  same  delegated  assembly  hears  the  second 
oration  of  Moses,  while  the  suspense  in  the  camp  becomes  intense. 
Now  the  report  of  the  oration  spreads  through  all  the  camp. 
Moses  says  he  has  arranged  and  written  all  the  laws  God  gave 
him,  and  has  given  them  to  the  officers,  and  that  God  will  still 
be  with  us  if  we  obey  Him.  Again  a  week  or  so  passes,  time  for 
reflection,  for  deliberation  is  given  when  another  assembly  is 
called  and  Moses  makes  his  third  oration,  that  upon  the  blessings 
of  obedience  and  the  curses  upon  disobedience,  and  of  the  great 
ceremony  to  be  observed  by  all  the  people  when  they  obtain 
possession  of  the  land,  and  the  eternal  mountains  are  to  be  the 
witnesses  of  the  eternal  nature  of  obedience  and  disobedience. 
Again  time  is  given  for  reflection,  and  a  fourth  signal  of  assembly 
is  given.  A  fourth  oration  of  Moses  is  given  to  the  officers  of  the 
people,  this  is  the  climax  of  eloquence  to  which  the  others  have 
led ;  this  leads  to  the  eloquence  of  action.  The  officers  of  the 
people  representing  all  the  people  are  called  upon  to  elect  God  to 
be  their  King  and  to  promise  to  obey  Him:  and  all  the  people 
standing  at  the  doors  of  their  tents  in  all  the  camp,  with  their 
children,  are  to  take  part  with,  to  approve  and  sanction  the  vote 
of  their  officers,  and  the  whole  nation  is  thus  to  choose  God  for 
their  Sovereign. 

That  which  was  made  plain  to  the  family  organization  at  the 
beginning  by  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God  that  the  source 
of  authority  was  God  Himself  is  now  acknowledged  and  adopted 
by  the  national  organization  in  choosing  Grod  as  their  King,  the 
elected  Sovereign.  The  election  is  after  long  experience  of  God's 
dealings  with  them,  under  the  appeal  of  their  grand  old  man 
eloquent,  and  after  due  and  deep  deliberation;  it  is  unquestioned, 
it  is  fully  decided,  and  for  all  time,  decided  by  all  the  people 
directly,  that  God  is  the  Sovereign. 


V 


3IO  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

There  follows  from  this  decision  as  in  the  family  organization, 
a  relation  to  each  other  as  well  as  to  God,  that  all  the  people 
have  equal  rights  and  duties,  that  since  God  is  their  Sovereign, 
they  are  all  His  loyal  subjects,  since  God  is  their  Father  they  are 
ail  brothers,  and  should  treat  each  other  as  equals,  as  brothers. 
The  consideration  of  the  laws  given  by  God  through  Moses  as  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  social  order  has  already  been  given 
as  applied  to  the  family,  to  industry,  to  culture,  and  will  be  con- 
tinued in  relation  to  pathology  and  social  health;  but  their  equal 
bearing  on  all  classes  may  be  noted  in  this  connection.  It  is  some- 
times said  that  modern  laws  favor  the  strong  rather  than  the 
weak,  that  laws  of  divorce,  of  the  employment  of  labor  by  capital, 
of  creditor  and  debtor,  of  the  administration  of  criminal  law  give 
opportunities  and  privileges  rather  than  equal  rights.  It  is  a  large 
question  and  difficult  to  decide,  it  is  in  the  administration  rather 
than  in  the  making  of  law  that  the  inequality  is  most  easily  dis- 
covered. But  while,  to  take  a  single  instance,  the  modern  laws 
protect  the  creditor  rather  than  the  debtor,  the  laws  of  Moses  pro- 
tected the  weaker,  the  debtor  rather  than  the  creditor.  The  con- 
dition itself  is  one  of  inequality.  Modern  laws  make  the  inequality 
greater,  they  guard  the  money;  the  laws  of  Moses  tried  to  dimin- 
ish the  inequality  of  the  condition,  to  make  the  men  equal,  they 
guarded  the  man.  God  was  the  elected,  the  acknowledged  Sovereign ; 
this  tended,  in  giving  all  the  right  to  vote,  in  the  result  of  the 
vote  to  make  all  men  equal  before  Him,  and  the  fundamental 
laws  from  Him  were  in  line  with  this  equality. 

These  main  features  of  the  institution  of  control  can  be  traced 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  long  national  history.  In  the 
several  hundred  years  of  absorbing  the  original  inhabitants  of  the 
land  and  in  settling  the  social  order  there  were  a  few  great  leaders 
drawn  out  by  emergencies.  Military  dictators  we  would  call 
them,  heroes  in  battle  who  secured  power  among  one  or  two  or  a 
few  tribes  and  then  over  all  the  tribes,  they  arise,  fulfill  their 
tasks  and  pass  away,  leaving  little  or  no  effect  upon  the  general 
government,  other  than  securing  safety  and  peace.  They  cul- 
minate  in    Samuel,   a   military  chieftain   but   chiefly   a   religious 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  311 

reformer,  the  greatest  and  best  of  the  Judges,  he  also  founds  the 
schools  of  the  prophets,  and  becomes  the  maker  of  kings. 

The  kings  are  chosen  under  God  and  by  His  direction.  He 
remains  the  Sovereign,  they  are  vice-roys.  Over  the  king  is  the 
law  of  the  Great  King  himself.  These  kings  of  the  nation  in  the 
theory  of  the  government  are  not  above  law,  as  the  arbitrary 
kings  of  neighboring  nations,  are  not  even  makers  of  law,  whose 
word  was  law,  as  the  neighboring  kings  were  the  law-making 
power.  The  Hebrew  king  was  under  a  law,  he  was  to  enforce 
the  law  of  the  real  Sovereign  of  the  nation.  The  kings  were  good 
in  proportion  as  they  lived  up  to  this  theory,  they  were  evil  Kings 
when  they  acted  as  did  the  kings  of  other  nations,  independently 
of  this  theory,  ignoring  the  chosen  Sovereign.  The  Kingdom 
brought  with  it  a  growing  court  made  of  the  princes  of  the  royal 
blood,  and  other  nobility  created  sometimes  from  statesmen,  but 
generally  from  the  leaders  in  warfare.  The  maintenance  of  this 
nobility  and  of  the  luxurious  court  of  the  king  created  a  demand  for 
money  which  the  instituted  tithe  system  did  not  afford,  and  so  it 
became  oppressive ;  it  is  probable  also  that  much  of  the  tithe  was 
diverted  from  the  support  of  the  Levites  to  the  support  of  the 
court.  This  additional  burden  not  contemplated  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  nation  seems  however  to  have  been  kept  within  mod- 
erate bounds  except  in  the  case  of  Solomon.  The  only  time  in 
the  long  history  of  a  thousand  years  any  considerable  mass  of  peo- 
ple arose  against  the  established  government  was  at  the  close  of 
his  reign.  Then  led  on  by  a  designing  politician  seeking  the  king- 
ship for  himself,  the  ten  tribes  set  up  a  kingdom  of  their  own,  the 
kingdom  of  Israel.  The  divided  kingdom  lasted  for  nearly  three 
hundred  years,  and  the  kingdom  of  Judah  a  hundred  years  longei. 
In  the  Northern  Kingdom  there  were  many  changes  of  dynasty  and 
but  little  carrying  out  of  the  theory  that  God  was  the  true  Sov- 
ereign. There  was  at  the  beginning  a  large  migration  of  those 
loyal  to  God,  the  King,  to  the  Southern  Kingdom,  and  this  was 
constant  in  less  degree  during  the  whole  history.  The  Southern 
Kingdom  was  ruled  by  the  single  line  of  kings,  the  line  of  David, 
and  many  of  these  were  true  to  the  real  Sovereign,  were  vice-roys 

21 


312  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

of  God  as  was  David,  their  father.  After  the  return  from  the 
Babylonian  captivity  there  was  a  dual  government,  that  of  the 
ruling  nation,  the  Persian,  the  Greek  and  the  Roman  Governor 
with  his  court  and  army,  and  the  self  government  of  the  Hebrews 
by  the  Levites  and  the  elected  officers,  with  generally  the  High 
Priest  at  the  head.  During  the  reign  of  the  Maccabees,  they  com- 
bined the  two  forms  in  themselves,  acted  as  kings  and  priests. 

During  all  this  varied  history  the  institution  of  control  near- 
est to  the  people,  was  the  tribal  government.  This  was  the  gov- 
ernment by  the  elected  officers  and  by  the  Levites  together  with 
the  heads  of  the  tribes.  In  the  concise  history  little  mention  is 
made  of  these  officers  but  their  vast  influence  in  preserving  the 
social  order  must  be  regarded  as  fundamental.  The  central 
government  was  largely  representative  of  these  officers,  in  the  earl- 
ier history  the  Levites  were  the  most  prominent  and  influential, 
and  the  national  tie  was  the  race  unity  and  religion,  in  the  later 
history  the  kings,  the  vice-roys  of  the  real  Sovereign  and  the 
elected  officers  with  the  nobility  and  Levites  were  influential,  the 
national  tie  still  being  race  and  religion.  There  was  a  large  local 
self  government,  and  the  comity  of  interest  was  to  develop  each 
individual  as  equal  with  all  others  in  rights  and  privileges  before 
God,   the  King. 

When  we  consider  the  United  States,  it  is  one  nation  made  up 
of  forty-seven  different  states;  a  concise  history  of  the  nation 
may  make  little  mention  of  state  action,  but  their  self  goverment 
is  fundamental,  a  large  element  of  the  institution  of  control. 
When  we  consider  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  it  is  one  state  made 
up  of  twenty-one  counties,  a  large  element  of  the  institution  of 
control  is  the  county  and  township  goverment,  that  nearest  the 
people  and  most  sensitive  to  the  changes  of  popular  opinion ; 
though  this  may  not  receive  large  mention  in  a  concise  history 
of  the  state,  it  is  the  fundamental  principle  in  the  organization 
of  the  state.  So  when  we  consider  the  nation  of  Israel  it  is 
one  nation  made  up  of  twelve  tribes,  a  nation  about  the  size 
of  New  Jersey  and  instead  of  twenty-one  counties  we  have  twelve 
tribes,   the  organization  of   these   tribes,   the  elected  officers  and 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  313 

the  hereditary  officers  together  form  the  fundamental  element 
in  the  institution  of  control,  touching  the  people  most  closely 
and  intimately  and  fostering  both  government  and  liberty. 

This  small  national  domain  under  the  institutions  of  the  family 
and  of  industry  we  have  described  became  very  thickly  populated  and 
there  were  in  it  many  large  and  flourishing  cities.  There  does 
not  seem  to  have  arisen  any  special  municipal  problem,  there 
was  no  separately  devised  form  of  government  for  cities  large  or 
small,  the  general  government  by  the  elected  and  hereditary  offi- 
cers was  flexible  enough  to  cover  the  need  of  town  as  well  as 
country,  the  hereditary  officers  formed  a  civil  service  of  vast  ex- 
perience cultured  in  government,  and  the  elected  officers  formed 
an  element  of  vigor  and  enterprise  fresh  from  the  people. 

That  which  we  saw  was  the  aim  of  the  institution  of  culture, 
the  development  of  righteousness,  is  also  insisted  upon  in  the 
institution  of  control.  The  source  of  all  authority  is  the  righteous 
Sovereign  of  the  nation,  God  himself.  Not  only  the  kings  as 
we  have  seen  were  under  His  law,  a  law  that  had  been  delivered 
by  Moses  and  was  in  their  possession  but  all  the  officers  both 
elected  and  hereditary  of  all  grades  were  amenable  to  God  and 
were  to  rule  under  His  laws.  Whether  in  the  legislative,  inter- 
pretative or  administrative  departments  all  were  under  the  law 
of  God.  That  which  He  had  at  the  beginning  set  forth  as  the 
qualities  of  good  officers,  "ability,  justice,  no  respect  of  persons, 
not  taking  a  gift,  not  lovers  of  gain"  was  insisted  upon  in  all 
stages  of  the  nation's  life. 

It  was  the  province  of  the  prophets  to  teach  the  people  that  the 
God  who  had  made  supernatural  revelations  of  Himself  to  their 
fathers  was  present  with  them  and  was  unchanged.  This  truth 
they  enforced  with  great  bravery  to  the  most  arbitrary  kings. 
This  truth  they  also  held  before  the  conscience  of  the  rulers  of  the 
people.  They  denounced  bribery,  injustice,  all  unrighteousness 
in  no  measured  terms,  and  they  were  just  as  severe  to  those  high 
in  office  as  to  the  mass  of  the  people.  Micah  says  "Ye  rulers  are 
to  know  judgment,  yet  ye  hate  the  good  and  love  the  evil.  Ye 
judge  for  reward.     Therefore  shall  Zion  for  your  sake  be  plowed 


314  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

as  a  field  and  Jerusalem  shall  become  heaps".  Malachi  says 
"Have  we  not  one  Father?  hath  not  one  God  created  us?  Why 
do  we  deal  treacherously  every  man  against  his  brother,  profaning 
the  covenant  of  our  fathers".  Unrighteousness  is  the  real  re- 
bellion against  the  chosen  King,  the  Sovereign  God. 
^I_  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  popularly  supposed  to  have  said  but 
one  thing  about  the  secular  government,  "Render  to  Caesar  the 
things  that  are  Caesar's" — to  have  done  but  one  thing  directly  in 
the  support  of  the  secular  government,  paid  the  tribute  money 
Peter  found  in  the  mouth  of  the  fish.  Surely  a  pregnant  saying 
and  a  much  embracing  deed.  But  one  may  not  make  light  of  the 
atmosphere  he  breathes  and  that  presses  equally  upon  all  parts  of 
his  body,  and  our  whole  life  on  earth  is  passed  in  the  atmosphere 
of  secular  government.  This  popular  opinion  shows  how  much 
we  have  sought  theology  and  how  little  we  have  studied  sociology 
in  our  Bibles.  The  characteristic  term  of  Christ  is  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  Each  Gospel  may  be  divided  into  two  parts.  The  first 
part  covers  the  year  of  obscurity,  and  the  year  of  popularity,  two 
of  the  three  years  of  our  Lord's  ministry  and  ends  with  the  con- 
fession of  the  disciples  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ.  In  this  first 
part  the  preaching  of  the  Kingdom  characterized  His  ministry. 
The  second  part  began  with  the  transfiguration  and  embraced 
the  whole  year  of  opposition  ending  in  the  cross.  In  this  second 
part  he  added  to  His  preaching  of  the  Kingdom  the  astounding 
teaching  that  the  King  would  die  for  His  people.  Many  kings 
do  not  seem  to  think  very  much  of  the  welfare  of  their  people,  do 
not  even  live  for  their  people,  but  in  this  case  the  gospel  of  the 
Kingdom  was  preached  specially  to  the  poor,  and  the  great  King 
was  to  die  for  His  people. 

In  our  contemplation  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  as  held  before  us 
by  the  great  King  Himself  we  show  again  how  much  we  have 
sought  theology  and  how  little  we  have  studied  sociology,  we  have 
located  the  Kingdom  in  the  far  ofif  eternal  heavens  and  have  seen 
only  its  faint  reflection  on  the  earth.  The  Jews  in  the  time  of 
Christ  looked  for  a  purely  secular  kingdom,  they  had  lost  sight  of 
righteousness   In   their  dream   of  power.     We  have   gone  to   the 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  315 

other  extreme  and  look  for  a  purely  spiritual  kingdom,  in  our 
dream  of  righteousness  in  the  heavens  we  have  lost  sight  of  the 
power  of  righteousness  on  the  earth,  of  a  righteous  secular  govern- 
ment. It  is  quite  evident  that  Christ  did  not  exclude  the  heavens 
from  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  it  is  equally  evident  that  he  did  not 
exclude   the  earth. 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  may  be  regarded  as  the  inaugural 
proclamation  of  the  King.  In  His  sending  out  His  disciples  to 
preach  "The  Kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand"  He  gave  them  the 
rules  of  self-government.  In  His  parables  of  the  Kingdom  He 
describes  it  as  taking  possession  of  the  whole  earth  and  reaching 
out  into  eternity.  Evidently  the  Kingdom  of  heaven  is  to  rule  the 
earth.  Christ  surely  had  not  the  discouraging  views  some  of  His 
followers  seem  to  hold  that  righteousness  in  government  cannot 
be  looked  for  to  control  the  whole  race  of  mankind  on  the  earth. 
Christ's  term  of  highest  good  to  the  race  is  an  ideal  society,  con- 
trolled constantly  and  in  all  its  parts  by  righteousness,  the  King- 
dom of  God. 

In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  such  a  Kingdom  must  evolve 
slowly  only  as  the  righteousness  which  is  to  be  its  controlling 
power  takes  possession  of  and  rules  individual  lives.  Christ's 
teachings  and  influence  were  to  establish  righteousness  in  individu- 
als. But  the  individual  to  be  righteous  at  all  must  be  righteous  in  all 
his  relations  with  his  fellow  men.  This  secures  a  social  order 
growing  in  righteousness,  and  also  growing  in  extent.  Christ's 
teachings  and  influence  were  thus  to  establish  righteousness  in  the 
whole  social  order  of  the  race,  to  bring  in  the  Kingdom  of  God 
not  only  on  the  mountains  of  Judea  but  on  all  mountains  and 
plains,  on  all  continents  and  islands,  on  all  lands  and  in  all  climes, 
to  hold  sway  over  land  and  sea,  over  all  the  race  of  mankind  in  the 
whole  earth. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  Jewish  race  whose  history  is 
recorded  in  the  Old  Testament  had  as  the  outcome  of  their  long 
national  life  an  expectation  that  their  Sovereign  King,  God  Him- 
self would  raise  up  a  great  leader  like  Moses,  their  revered  law- 
giver, and  like  David  their  great  king,  and  that  this  leader  would 


< 


3i6  THE   SOCIOLOGY   OF  THE  BIBLE 

gain  and  hold  a  world  empire.  That  instead  of  Judea  being  a 
province  of  Egypt,  Babylon,  Greece,  or  Rome,  these  great  world 
powers  would  be  mere  provinces  of  Judea.  It  was  a  magnificent 
dream.  There  was  much  to  justify  it  in  the  visions  of  psalmists 
and  prophets,  and  still  more  in  the  provisions  of  the  institution  of 
control  we  are  now  considering,  and  in  the  laws  given  by  God 
through  Moses,  and  in  the  all  embracing  feature  that  God  had 
offered  Himself,  and  that  they  had  elected  Him  their  Sovereign. 
The  great  flaw  in  their  cherished  ambition  was  they  had  more 
thought  of  power  than  of  righteousness.  Some  seem  to  have  had 
the  thought  that  power  would  establish  righteousness,  an  idea  that 
has  not  yet  vanished  entirely  from  the  human  mind ;  a  very  few 
had  grasped  the  glorious  truth  that  righteousness  would  establish 
power. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  proclaiming  the  Kingdom  of  God,  in 
claiming  Himself  as  the  King,  in  offering  Himself  to  the  choice 
of  the  people  always  insisted  on  the  righteousness  which  should 
hold  sway  in  the  social  order.  His  great  follower  the  Apostle 
Paul  in  writing  to  the  Christians  at  Rome  the  capital  of  the 
world  power,  insisted  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  was  "righteous- 
ness, peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit".  Righteousness  first  in 
heart  and  life,  in  individuals  evolving  and  moulding  such  right- 
eousness in  the  social  order;  then  peace  the  end  of  selfish  strife, 
the  soundness  of  social  health;  then  joy,  the  race  of  man  having 
the  joy  of  a  full  healthy  individual  and  social  life  on  the  fruitful 
beautiful  earth,  the  joy  designed  and  brought  about  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  effort  of  Christ,  the  magnificent  dream  He  had, 
and  that  we  may  catch  from  Him,  was  a  universal  world  power, 
the  establishment  of  an  ideal  society  as  an  outcome  of  ideal  indi- 
viduals, the  first  through  the  last,  and  the  ideal  was  righteousness. 
He  always  insisted  on  the  dignity  and  worth  of  the  individual. 
But  the  worth  of  the  individual  did  not  consist  in  being  self- 
centered,  an  isolated  being,  or  one  making  all  others  revolve  about 
him.  The  individual  is  in  his  nature  social.  Whatever  dignity 
and  worth  he  has  he  must  acknowledge  as  belonging  equally  to 
every  other  man.     This  dignity  and  worth  belong  not  to  a  special 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  317 

few,  not  to  a  special  class  but  to  human  nature  as  such,  to  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  equally.  Righteousness  is  the  only  princi- 
ple that  should  control  the  social  order. 

The  special  features  of  the  institution  of  control  in  the  partic- 
ular society  of  the  Bible  arising  from  the  supernatural  revelation 
of  God  seen  in  the  national  history  are  seen  to  be  the  characteris- 
tic features  in  the  teaching  of  Christ  concerning  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  Men  electing  God  as  their  Sovereign,  and  these  men  equal 
before  God,  are  righteous  in  the  relations  to  one  another.  Gibbon 
in  the  "Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire"  gives  five  causes 
for  the  early  spread  of  Christianity,  the  last  and  probably  the  cul- 
minating one  of  these  causes  he  describes  as  the  union  and  discipline 
of  the  early  churches,  they  were  Christian  republics.  The  princi- 
ples of  righteousness  were  the  fundamental  laws,  principles  coming 
to  them  from  their  Sovereign  Lord,  their  chosen  King.  Among 
themselves,  the  local  government  was  a  representative  one,  their 
officers  were  elected  from  the  people.  The  spirit  ruling  in  each 
church  was  that  of  equality  and  fraternity.  All  the  members  had 
equal  rights,  privileges  and  duties,  and  were  filled  with  the  fra- 
ternal spirit.  "Behold  how  these  Christians  love  one  another" 
was  the  admiring  commendation  of  the  surrounding  heathen 
world.  The  people  organized  into  a  society  called  a  church  chose 
their  teachers,  chose  their  rulers,  chose  men  to  take  care  of  the 
common  funds  and  administer  them  for  the  common  good.  When 
neighboring  churches  formed  an  association  of  churches,  it  was  by 
means  of  delegated  officers  and  for  the  common  good,  and  for  the 
increase  of  their  efficiency  in  establishing  the  Kingdom  of  God 
in  the  world.  Thus  the  church  started  under  the  personal  direc- 
tion of  those  who  had  been  with  Christ,  had  caught  his  spirit  and 
been  trained  under  his  government.  He  who  would  be  great  was 
to  excel  in  ministering  to  others. 

The  followers  of  Christ  in  those  early  times  were  loyal  to  the 
established  government,  though  often  it  was  intrenched  in  wrong 
and  fearfully  oppressive.  Still  it  was  a  government,  an  estab- 
lished institution  of  control  in  the  existing  social  order.  It 
was  a  hard  duty  "Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers," 


3i8  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

it  was  a  hard  teaching,  "there  is  no  power  but  of  God,  the  powers 
that  be  are  ordained  of  God."  Still  this  duty,  this  teaching  the 
great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  wrote  to  the  Roman  Christians,  who 
soon  passed  under  the  reign  of  Nero.  This  of  course  was  true 
since  that  government  had  evolved  in  the  social  nature  of  man  as 
God  had  made  it,  and  bad  as  it  was  it  was  far  better  than 
anarchy;  the  absence  of  the  institution  of  control  would  be  con- 
trary to  the  nature  and  the  welfare  of  man.  Besides  under  the 
worst  central  government  it  was  still  true  as  is  generally  the  case 
that  the  various  local  governments  "the  rulers  are  not  a  terror 
to  the  good  work  but  to  the  evil."  So  Christians  were  not  to  be 
anarchists  even  in  Rome,  they  v^ere  to  obey  God,  to  have  right- 
eouness  in  life,  to  have  large  self  government  in  their  local  so- 
cities,  and  thus  to  start  a  new  force  of  evolution  to  spread  in  all 
society. 

A  glance  may  be  taken  beyond  New  Testament  times,  though 
V  a  more  close  study  of  such  times  belongs  to  another  division  of 
this  book.  Sartell  Prentice  in  his  article  "The  Claims  of  the 
Church  based  upon  History"  concisely  describes  the  case  as  fol- 
lows, "When  barbarians  invaded  Italy,  and  Rome  was  helpless 
the  church  faced  the  barbarians  and  saved  what  could  be  saved. 
When  Europe  was  threatened  with  a  caste  system,  when  knight 
and  churl  were  born  to  inalienable  estates,  the  church  stood  for 
absolute  democracy.  In  the  church  slave  and  master  sat  side  by 
side,  they  confessed  to  the  same  priest,  and  performed  similar 
penances.  Within  the  church  birth  was  no  barrier,  there  men 
were  equal,  and  the  idea  of  democracy  entered  the  world  through 
the  church.  When  learning  was  highly  esteemed  schools  were 
maintained  within  the  churches  and  the  only  learning  the  world 
possessed  was  offered  to  all  by  the  church.  When  might  was  right 
and  men  were  throwing  the  sword  into  the  scales  of  justice  the 
church  used  its  power  for  equity  and  right  for  those  who  had 
no  defender".  Another  glance  may  be  taken  at  the  trend  of  the 
institution  of  control  In  our  day  toward  the  fraternalism  of  the 
Bible.  When  our  government  was  set  up  it  was  in  large  degree  a 
protest  against  certain  evils  prevailing  in  the  nations  of  the  old 


INSTITUTION  OF  CONTROL  319 

world.  The  original  American  idea  was  the  less  government  we 
have  the  better.  Now  we  recognize  that  the  government  may  and 
should  exercise  many  beneficent  activities  for  all  the  people.  The 
old  idea  was,  government  is  a  necessary  evil,  let  us  have  as  little  of 
it  as  possible;  the  new  idea  regards  it  as  an  agency  for  the  good 
of  all  the  people,  let  us  have  as  much  of  it  as  possible.  The  last 
century  was  one  of  political  reform  aiming  at  the  equality  of  the 
citizens.  The  present  century  is  one  of  social  reform  aiming  at 
the  service  of  all  the  citizens.  The  national  government  provides 
the  post  office  for  all  the  people  and  contemplates  giving  all  the 
parcel  post,  the  telegraph  post  and  the  postal  savings  bank.  The 
state  government  gives  the  free  school  to  all,  and  combines  with 
the  nation  or  neighboring  states  in  quarantine,  sanitary  and  com- 
municating control.  Light  is  the  best  policeman,  and  an  excellent 
servant,  and  every  city  government  in  the  land  now  provides  it  for 
all  the  people,  so  the  streets  are  as  safe  and  convenient  in  the 
night  as  in  the  day.  The  city  government  owns  or  controls  rapid 
transit  and  low  fares  for  the  welfare  of  the  masses.  Not  content 
with  school  house  and  libraries,  the  city  often  opens  the  school 
houses  beyond  school  hours  and  in  vacation  times  to  all  the  people 
for  social  recreation.  The  parks  are  not  merely  to  be  looked  at 
but  for  the  rest  and  recreation  of  all  the  people.  The  city  fol- 
lows state  and  nation  in  seeking  the  physical,  mental  and  moral 
welfare  of  the  masses.  The  trend  of  the  institution  of  control 
today  is  toward  ministering  to  the  needs  of  mankind,  is  toward 
Bible  ideals. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
Social   Pathology. 

While  society  is  not  an  organism  it  is  still  marvelously  like 
one  in  several  important  features,  as  we  have  already  seen  in  a 
former  chapter.  We  have  now  to  consider  some  of  those  features 
of  society  which  may  be  covered  by  the  general  name  of  dis- 
ease, which  produce  more  or  less  suffering  in  the  social  organ- 
ism, or  which  hinder  it  from  attaining  its  full  health  and  hap- 
piness. We  will  find  that  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible 
grouped  about  a  supernatural  revelation  of  God  is  not  exempt 
from  these  diseases.  No  condition  of  society  yet  attained  by 
mankind  in  any  age  or  clime  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge 
has  been  exempt  from  them.  Various  societies  have  had  various 
diseases,  or  general  diseases  in  various  degrees  of  strength,  and 
have  had  various  policies  concerning  them,  from  intentionally  or 
ignorantly  cultivating  them,  through  many  degrees  of  the  "let 
alone  policy,"  to,  in  some  instances,  the  rash  and  brutal  attempt 
to  cut  them  out  with  the  knife,  though  the  patient  may  be  in  dan- 
ger of  bleeding  to  death.  One  of  the  great  lessons  sociology  is 
teaching  mankind  today  comes  from  its  wide  study  of  these  var- 
ious diseases  and  policies. 

The  modern  physician  while  he  observes  the  fever  and  tries  to 
alleviate  it,  does  not  confine  his  effort  to  the  symptoms  of  the  dis- 
ease, he  searches  for  its  cause  and  tries  to  remove  that,  he  observes 
the  complications  and  tries  to  avoid  stimulating  a  more  deadly 
disease  than  the  one  he  is  trying  to  cure;  he  avoids  hindering  and 
tries  in  every  way  to  help  nature  bring  up  her  reserve  forces  of 
health.  The  still  more  modern  physician,  the  one  thoroughly  up 
to  date,  strives  to  awaken  in  his  clients  a  wise  observance  of  the 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  321 

laws  of  health  so  that  they  do  not  become  his  patients  at  all,  he 
labors  for  the  maintenance  of  health  rather  than  for  the  curing  of 
disease  in  his  clients  and  as  far  as  possible  in  the  community. 

This  great  lesson  sociology  is  teaching  intelligent  society  con- 
cerning its  diseases,  to  search  for  the  causes  of  disease  and  to  try 
to  remove  them,  to  avoid  dangerous  complications  and  especially 
to  maintain  a  high  ideal  of  health  and  a  constant  effort  to  attain 
it.  The  limitation  of  sociology,  as  of  the  modern  physician,  is  first 
in  their  own  ignorance,  and  secondly  in  the  ignorance,  stubborn- 
ness and  self-indulgence  of  their  clients.  But  both  are  investiga- 
tors and  enthusiastic  lovers  of  mankind,  they  will  learn  more  and 
more  as  the  years  go  by  and  will  increase  their  power  to  teach 
and  to  influence  as  their  knowledge  and  devotion  grow.  That 
which  has  been  said  so  often  concerning  other  things  needs  to  be 
said  here.  Sociology  will  find  the  more  thorough  study  of  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible  a  great  help  and  incentive  in  in- 
creasing her  knowledge,  and  widening  her  influence  for  good. 

Sociology  generally  agrees  that  social  diseases  have  in  the  main 
two  fundamental  causes,  namely,  abnormal  individuals  and  abnor- 
mal conditions.  But  these  causes  overlap,  and  it  is  difficult  after 
one  has  separated  them  in  thought  to  strike  a  just  balance  between 
them.  Do  abnormal  individuals  produce  the  abnormal  conditions 
or  the  conditions  the  individuals,  or  do  both  co-operate,  and  if  so 
which    to    the   greater   degree. 

First  we  must  tell  what  the  disease  is,  describe  it,  set  it  apart 
from  all  other  diseases ;  but  this  too  is  difficult,  for  as  in  individuals 
so  in  society  diseases  awaken  and  foster  and  become  complicated 
with  one  another.  For  instance  if  we  describe  poverty  as  a  con- 
dition in  which  the  total  earnings  of  the  individual  or  family  are 
not  sufficient  to  provide  the  minimum  necessaries  for  the  main- 
tenance of  mere  physical  efficiency  we  have  an  unquestioned  dis- 
ease ;  if  we  say  these  earnings  are  insufficient  to  maintain  a  mod- 
erate degree  of  physical,  mental  and  moral  well-being  it  is  a  dis- 
ease of  less  degree :  this  disease  is  present  in  modern  society  in  vari- 
ous degree?,  and  in  various  combinations  with  kindred  diseases. 
If  we  seek  causes,  one  will  be  abnormal  individuals, — laziness,  in- 


322  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

efficiency,  unfaithfulness,  wastefulness,  intemperance,  dishonesty 
in  individuals.  Another  cause  will  be  abnormal  conditions, — low 
wages,  unsteady  employment,  high  rents,  high  cost  of  living,  facili- 
ties and  incentives  for  intemperance  and  gambling,  all  these  are 
economic  and  social  conditions.  However  difficult  it  may  be  to 
strike  a  just  balance,  all  see  at  once  that  the  abnormal  individuals 
are  not  the  only  ones,  or  even  the  main  ones  that  form  the  abnor- 
mal conditions,  and  that  there  is  a  possibility  that  a  normal  indi- 
vidual, an  industrious,  efficient  and  faithful  individual  may  be- 
come permanently  enrolled  in  the  ranks  of  poverty  by  the  working 
solely  of  the  abnormal  conditions ;  and  that  there  is  a  tendency  for  the 
abnormal  conditions  to  develop  abnormal  individuals,  while  society 
should  develop  normal  individuals  by  fostering  normal  conditions. 
It  is  in  society  as  it  is  in  individuals,  disease  germs  have  a  tend- 
ency to  grow  and  multiply.  This  affords  an  incentive  to  the  wise 
physician  and  the  wise  individual  to  guard  against  their  introduc- 
tion, to  check  their  growth,  to  cast  them  out,  and  especially  to  so 
foster  the  introduction,  growth  and  vigor  of  health  germs  that  the 
disease  germs  cannot  fasten  themselves  upon  the  individual.  So- 
ciology is  teaching  the  same  lesson  to  society,  and  society  will 
under  such  teachings  come  to  pursue  the  same  policy.  While  it  is 
not  the  first  aim  of  society  to  care  for  the  disease  of  any  particular 
class  of  its  members  but  for  the  health  of  the  whole,  not  the  first 
aim  to  improve  the  lot  of  any  particular  class  but  to  attain  the  best 
life  the  general  society  is  capable  of,  this  general  aim  at  the  same 
time  includes  and  secures  the  best  life  for  the  particular  class  as 
well.  The  social  policy  must  seek  health  conditions.  The  health 
individuals  must  be  so  socially  active  that  there  is  no  room  or  culti- 
vation of  the  disease  individuals.  While  conditions  must  be  fully 
considered,  at  the  same  time  individuals  are  therein  considered. 
Society  must  become  strong  and  well  through  the  health  germs 
being  in  the  ascendancy,  and  so  much  in  the  ascendancy  that  dis- 
ease germs  find  no  entrance,  certainly  no  welcome,  no  cultivation. 
The  "let  alone"  policy  will  not  cure  poverty  because  it  will  not 
touch  the  cause  with  the  wand  of  health,  it  will  not  bring  either 
individual  or  condition  from  the  abnormal  to  the  normal. 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  323 

While  we  will  not  he  able  to  follow  the  classification  of  social 
pathology  thoroughly  in  our  study  of  the  pathology  of  the  Bible 
it  may  be  well  for  us  to  be  familiar  with  it  that  we  may  see 
how  the  general  policy  of  the  Bible  bears  upon  it,  it  is  certainly 
not  in  harmony  with  the  "let  alone"  policy  so  often  found  in 
society.  The  most  clearly  marked  classes  of  social  disease  are  these 
four — Poverty,  a  class  without  the  means  of  approaching  a  com- 
plete life;  Vice,  a  class  injuring  itself  directly,  and  society  indi- 
rectly by  the  violation  of  some  natural  law;  Crime,  a  class  injur- 
ing society  directly  by  violation  of  state  law ;  Inactivity,  a  class 
withholding  from  societ}^  any  service,  and  living  upon  the  social 
body  as  parasites. 

The  abnormal  individuals  forming  as  one  cause  these  social 
diseases  are  in  three  obvious  classes — The  Dependents,  having  a 
dependent  spirit  and  lacking  the  initiative  of  the  primary  ability 
class,  one  cause  of  the  condition  of  poverty;  The  Delinquents, 
casting  ofi  obedience  to  law  and  all  sense  of  responsibility,  one 
cause  of  vice  and  crime ;  The  Deficients,  those  having  such  phys- 
ical, mental  or  moral  deficiency  that  they  are  forced,  or  selfishly 
choose  to  live  in  idleness,  one  cause  of  the  socially  inactive.  The 
abnormal  conditions  are  such  political,  vital,  industrial  and  social 
customs,  laws,  conditions  and  arrangements  as  cultivate  abnormal 
individuals,  and  create  social  tendencies  that  result  in  the  four 
classes   of   diseases.  ' 

In  our  study  of  the  social  pathology  of  the  Bible  we  will  con- 
sider mainly  these  four  abnormal  conditions,  and  try  to  discover 
the  policy  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  grouped  around 
the  supernatural  revelation  of  God,  with  reference  to  dwarfing 
and  destroying  them. 

First — There  were  many  unhealthy  political  conditions  in  the  \ 
early  society  of  the  race.  There  are  many  such  conditions  in 
the  society  of  the  race  today  in  all  climes,  conditions  which  lead  to 
war  among  nations,  to  disturbance  and  conflicts  within  nations, 
to  the  crushing  of  classes  of  citizens  into  weakness  and  distress,  to 
the  prevalence  of  injustice  and   the  triumph  of  wrong  in  many 


324  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

lands.  We  do  not  find  the  absence  of  such  unhealthy  political 
conditions  in  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  but  we  do  find 
that  the  policy  of  that  society  was  to  check  them,  and  that  under 
that  policy  they  did  not  flourish  so  rankly  as  in  society  generally. 
With  regard  to  war  with  other  nations  we  find  very  few  wars 
^in  the  history  of  the  Hebrews  and  that  these  few  were  in  the  main 
righteous  wars.  This  perhaps  may  not  be  the  impression  given 
by  the  ordinary  reading  of  that  history,  the  pages  often  seem 
fierce  and  cruel,  it  seems  that  the  Hebrews  revelled  in  almost  inces- 
sant warfare.  But  if  we  remember  that  the  history  extends  over 
a  thousand  years,  that  these  thousand  years  are  described  in  a  most 
concise  way,  making  the  record  a  very  short  one,  that  a  battle  is 
described  vividly,  that  one  campaign  is  but  an  incident  of  a  war, 
that  many  battles  and  campaigns  of  Joshua  are  described  even  in 
the  short  history,  but  that  the  whole  war  of  the  conquest  lasted 
only  seven  years,  as  did  our  war  for  independence;  and  that  a 
thousand  years  of  national  existence  followed,  while  we  have  had 
only  a  little  over  a  hundred  years  of  national  life  so  far ;  when  we 
thus  look  at  that  ancient  concise  history  with  modern  eyes  and 
with  modern  comparisons  we  will  drift  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Hebrews  were  as  peaceful,  perhaps  more  peaceful  than  we  are; 
and  we  call  ourselves  a  nation  capable  of  fighting,  brave  and  strong 
in  war,  but  still  a  peaceful  nation.  The  Book  of  Judges  seems  to 
resound  with  the  shouts  of  battle,  it  sketches  a  succession  of 
heroes,  it  describes  servitudes  and  deliverances  as  the  Hebrews 
became  settled  in  the  possession  of  the  land,  but  the  book  describes 
four  hundred  years;  we  did  quicker  and  less  gentle  work  in  our 
dealings  with  the  Indians.  After  the  division  of  the  nation  there 
were  frequent  jealousy  and  antagonism  between  the  two  kingdoms, 
but  they  rarely  flamed  forth  in  war,  and  there  were  long  periods 
of  fellowship  and  allegiance.  The  whole  nation  seldom  engaged 
in  war  with  other  nations,  and  when  it  did  the  war  was  gener- 
ally in  self-defence.  There  was  very  little  of  predatory  war,  wars 
of  conquest  and  plunder  such  as  were  frequent  among  other 
nations  of  antiquity.  David  the  great  organizer  and  general 
evidently  had  the  ambition  and  opportunity  of  becoming  a  world 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  325 

conqueror  but  God  showed  him  that  a  kingdom  of  force  was  not 
in  harmony  with  His  plans  for  the  nation.  The  situation  of  the 
nation  gave  it  a  fine  position  to  levy  tribute  upon  the  world's 
wealth  and  power.  Entrenched  upon  the  mountains  with  the  only 
highway  between  the  civilizations  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile 
running  along  the  shore  of  the  Great  Sea  and  within  easy  reach, 
both  Babylon  and  Egypt  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  nation  had  its 
policy  been  one  of  plunder  and  conquest.  In  after  ages  when  the 
sea  was  becoming  the  highway  of  the  nations,  when  great  Beets 
contested  for  its  mastery,  and  carried  armies  over  its  waves,  when 
Greece  and  Rome  flourished  these  nations  conducted  many  wars 
of  plunder,  conquest  and  revenge.  With  Babylon  and  Egypt  to 
some  extent,  with  Greece  and  especially  with  Rome,  war  came  to 
be  regarded  as  the  normal  condition  of  those  civilizations,  but  it  was 
never  so  with  the  Hebrew  nation.  In  the  seven  hundred  years  of 
Roman  history  wars  were  almost  innumerable,  in  the  thousand 
years  of  Hebrew  history  wars  were  comparatively  few.  If  you 
compare  their  history  with  some  long  lived  modern  and  even 
Christian  nation,  with  England,  France,  Russia  or  Germany  the 
comparison  is  still  in  favor  of  the  Hebrews. 

The  policy  of  the  nation  under  its  chosen  Sovereign  God,  was 
the  policy  of  righteous  dealings  with  other  nations,  the  policy  of 
the  society  grouped  around  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God 
regarded  other  people  as  brothers  to  be  treated  in  a  brotherly 
spirit,  this  policy  held  in  check  the  tendency  to  plunder  and 
revenge,  it  did  not  destroy  it  but  kept  it  from  such  rank  growth 
as  it  would  otherwise  have  attained.  The  bearing  of  many  of  the 
laws  given  by  God  through  Moses  tended  further  to  check  the 
military  spirit.  The  man  was  not  regarded  by  these  laws  as  first 
a  soldier  and  all  other  relations  secondary,  but  he  was  first  a  head 
of  a  family,  the  man  recently  married  was  specially  exempted  from 
military  service,  the  wife,  the  child,  the  home  was  not  to  be 
deprived  of  his  presence;  military  service  was  secondary.  Loyalty 
to  native  land  was  fostered  not  by  the  spirit  ever  ready  to  fight, 
but  by  the  values  of  that  land  to  the  family,  the  land  of  one's 
fathers,   the  land   of   one's  children. 


326  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

The  unhealthy  political  conditions  as  the  cause  of  disease  in 
society  when  they  flame  forth  in  war  with  other  societies  are 
attended  with  a  multitude  of  evils  in  each  society  so  engaged  in 
conflict.  The  weaker  society  may  lose  its  independent  existence, 
and  its  after  development  be  only  such  as  is  permitted  by  its 
conqueror.  The  stronger  society  arrogant  in  wrong  doing  and 
swollen  with  plunder  plunges  into  reckless  courses  of  vice,  and 
treats  classes  of  its  own  citizens  unjustly  and  contemptuously. 
There  are  social  virtues  which  are  classed  as  military,  obedience 
to  duty  in  the  discipline  of  the  army,  endurance  of  hardships, 
bravery  in  face  of  danger,  sacrifice  of  property,  ease,  even  life  for 
the  common  good,  living,  suffering,  dying  for  one's  native  land. 
These  are  drawn  out  specially  by  a  righteous  war,  when  conscience 
calls  for  man  to  devote  himself  to  the  right,  and  a  contagion  of 
conscience  stirs  a  whole  nation  and  men  generally  are  lifted  out 
of  living  for  self  alone  and  live  for  the  common  good,  are  stirred 
by  an  enthusiasm  for  their  country,  its  life  and  its  rights.  But  it 
is  an  unhealthy  political  condition  that  seeks  war  for  war's  sake, 
for  love  of  conflict,  plunder  or  conquest,  and  such  wars  demoral- 
ize and  disintegrate  society,  the  conqueror  as  well  as  the  victim. 
Wars  even  for  righteousness'  sake  awaken  fierce  passions,  are 
attended  by  much  corruption  and  always  result  in  agony  and  death 
and  broken  homes. 

There  is  much  war  spirit  prevailing  today.  Christian  nations 
have  heavy  armaments  on  land  and  sea.  The  United  States  is 
drifting  in  the  same  direction.  We  are  compelled  to  describe 
Christian  nations  as  armed  to  the  teeth,  and  thus  as  ready  to 
spring  at  each  others  throats.  But  it  must  also  be  said  that  they 
do  not  fight.  Something  restrains  them.  It  cannot  be  said  to 
be  always  or  mainly  money,  these  are  rich  nations  in  themselves, 
though  nowadays  the  world  is  so  linked  together  by  business  enter- 
prise that  the  wealth  of  any  nation  is  largely  invested  among  other 
nations.  Should  a  German  fleet  bombard  New  York  City  it 
would  thereby  destroy  much  German  wealth.  But  the  main  rea- 
son is  that  righteousness  is  becoming  more  and  more  a  controlling 
force  among  nations,  that  there  is  a  strong  sense  of  justice  in  the 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  327 

public  opinion  of  Christian  lands,  a  sense  of  righteousness  that 
demands  that  a  nation  should  be  so  strong  in  its  righteousness  that 
it  will  do  rightly  not  only,  but  that  when  injured  or  insulted  by 
another  nation  it  will  endure  much  before  it  will  fight.  Righteous- 
ness must  always  be  opposed  to  wrong.  Christ  said  He  came  not 
to  bring  peace  but  war.  But  righteousness  will  bear  much  injury 
and  insult  rather  than  fight.  The  spirit  of  fighting  is  not  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood.  A  brother  will  bear  much  from  a  brother,  and  will 
try  by  just  and  kindly  dealings  to  win  the  brother  from  a  fighting 
spirit.  So  Christ  taught  His  disciples  to  forgive,  taught  them  to 
control  the  fighting  spirit,  to  turn  the  other  cheek  for  another 
blow  rather  than  to  strike  back.  The  strike  back  precipitates  a 
fight,  the  brotherly  bearing  of  an  injury  takes  the  fighting  spirit 
out  of  the  aggressive  brother.  Thus  Christ's  teachings  and  exam-  \ 
pie  which  have  done  so  much  to  civilize  individuals,  are  beginning 
to  have  large  influence  in  civilizing  nations.  The  policy  of  Bible 
sociology  is  productive  of  peace,  and  social  peace  among  nations 
is  fraternal  co-operation  and  welfare.  Christ  is  called  the  Prince 
of  Peace.  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  righteousness,  peace  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  Kingdom  is  sure  to  prevail,  and  is  hav- 
ing large  influence  among  nations  today. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  second  class  of  diseases  fostered  by  un- 
healthy political  conditions,  those  disturbances  and  conflicts  within 
each  national  organization,  conflicts  of  individuals  and  of  classes 
with  each  other  and  with  society  itself  we  face  a  force  bewildering 
in  its  details  and  threatening  the  disintegration  of  the  social  organ- 
ism. 

Leaving  other  details  for  the  present  we  confine  our  attention  at 
first  to  crime ;  and  leaving  other  ways  in  which  unhealthy  political 
and  vital  conditions  foster  crime  we  confine  our  attention  largely 
to  their  direct  treatment  of  the  disease  itself.  Here  as  in  so  many 
other  cases  sociology  would  do  well  to  make  a  special  study  of  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible  and  may  in  so  doing  find  principles 
which  might  be  wisely  applied  in  the  far  more  complex  society  of 
the  present  day.  The  extent  in  which  unhealthy  political  and 
vital  conditions  have  fostered  crime  in  our  day  and  especially  in 

22 


328  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

our  country  must  be  acknowledged  by  the  most  conservative  stu- 
dent as  very  great.  After  all  due  allowance  is  made  for  abnormal 
individuals  the  extent  of  the  disease  we  call  crime,  is  seen  to  be 
largely  due  to  abnormal  conditions. 

One  of  the  most  glaring  facts  in  the  criminal  customs  and  laws 
of  our  land  today  is  that  the  use  of  jails  and  prisons  is  not  founded 
on  justice  so  much  as  it  is  on  the  convenience  of  society  for  the 
holding  of  prisoners  awaiting  trial  or  the  execution  of  the  sen- 
tences of  the  courts.  Many  of  our  states  have  several  state 
prisons.  Nearly  every  one  of  our  over  twenty-seven  hundred 
counties  in  the  United  States  has  a  jail  and  some  have  several  jails 
or  places  of  detention;  large  cities  have  many  police  court  jails. 
Nearly  a  million  men  and  women  pass  through  our  jails  yearly. 
Records  show  that  nearly  half  these  prisoners  are  under  twenty- 
five  years  of  age.  To  pass  a  night  in  a  police  court  jail  is  an  edu- 
cation in  crime,  the  disgrace  of  it,  the  associations,  the  motley 
array  in  the  police  court  the  next  morning  go  far  to  smirch  the 
life  of  the  one  who  is  pronounced  by  such  a  court  free  from  all 
blame.  Many  are  confined  in  jail  waiting  their  trial  for  several 
months.  The  enforced  idleness  of  these  jails,  in  many  cases  the 
meeting  of  the  young  and  inexperienced  with  old  and  experienced 
criminals  as  the  only  companions  for  weeks  and  even  months  at  a 
time,  and  the  disgrace  of  being  in  jail  at  all,  make  these  places  of 
detention  schools  of  crime. 

Another  glaring  fact  in  the  penology  of  our  day  is  that  penal- 
ties for  crime  are  not  founded  on  justice  so  much  as  upon  caprice, 
there  is  no  standard  of  righteousness  in  defining  crime  or  grading 
punishment,  and  more  attention  is  often  paid  to  the  crime  than  to 
the  criminal.  In  Illinois  a  certain  offense  brings  a  man  ten  times 
the  punishment  the  same  offense  brings  in  New  Jersey.  In  an- 
other offense  New  York  requires  five  times  the  length  of  imprison- 
ment possible  for  the  same  offense  in  Tennessee.  Know  all  about 
a  criminal  act  and  still  the  degree  of  guilt  in  the  criminal  is  un- 
certain. A  hardened  criminal  and  a  youth  who  has  yielded  to 
impulse  and  has  repented  instantly,  are  treated  alike,  both  go  to 
prison,    though    for   different   terms.      Many   times    the    term    of 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  329 

imprisonment  depends  more  upon  the  temper  and  digestion  of  a 
single  judge  than  upon  the  justice  in  the  particular  case.  If 
sending  to  prison  is  not  graded  by  justice  it  is  graded  still  less  by 
the  protection  of  society.  Society  is  not  safe  with  the  criminal  at 
large  so  we  shut  him  up  in  prison,  and  then  we  inconsistently  let 
him  out  in  three  months  whether  he  is  a  tiger  or  a  lamb,  with  the 
probability  that  the  one  entering  a  mild  tiger  is  a  more  fierce  one 
now,  and  the  one  entering  a  lamb  has  now  acquired  some  of  the 
tiger  nature. 

A  third  glaring  fact  in  the  penology  of  our  day,  closely  related 
to  these  two,  to  the  first  one  especially,  is  that  the  trial  for  crime 
is  not  prompt  and  thorough  and  that  the  infliction  of  punishment 
is  frequently  uncertain  and  often  long  delayed.  This  flows  not 
only  from  having  jails  as  a  convenient  way  of  holding  those 
charged  with  crime  but  from  courts  being  crowded  with  cases, 
from  professional  advocates  and  defenders  in  the  administration 
of  justice,  and  from  a  sickly  public  opinion  with  reference  to  the 
whole  subject  and  especially  to  certain  crimes.  It  is  often  said 
"Murder  will  out"  and  "the  guilty  cannot  escape" — these  are 
proverbs  of  the  olden  time,  they  could  not  have  their  origin  in  our 
country  and  in  our  day.  In  one  of  the  basest  crimes  the  United 
States  makes  a  bad  showing  compared  with  other  nations.  There 
were  in  1905  in  England  318  homicides  and  151  convictions  for 
that  offense,  in  Germany  there  were  567  homicides  and  476  con- 
victions, while  in  the  United  States  there  were  9,212  homicides 
and  only  160  convictions  for  that  offense.  The  New  York  Inde- 
pendent of  Januarj%  1906,  says,  "We  kill  more  people  by  violence 
in  proportion  to  our  population  than  any  other  so-called  civilized 
country  in  the  world.  And  let  it  be  considered  that  killing  is  not 
seriously  punished  by  our  courts,  only  one  legal  hanging  to  sixty- 
four  homicides".  This  great  and  growing  indifference  to  the 
value  of  human  life  so  cultivated,  is  further  seen  in  the  vast  num- 
bers killed  and  injured  by  our  railroads,  our  mines,  our  iron  foun- 
dries and  other  industrial  enterprises,  with  little  or  no  holding  the 
corporate  or  individual  takers  of  life  to  any  real  responsibility. 

We  turn  now  from  our  complex  civilization  with  our  many 


330  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

prisons  and  multitude  of  criminals  back  to  the  Hebrew  policy  with 
reference  to  crime;  it  was  evidently  designed  to  check  political  and 
vital  conditions  from  fostering  the  growth  of  crime;  it  had  a 
strange  commingling  of  severity  and  humanity  in  dealing  with 
crime. 

The  first  notable  thing  is  the  provision  made  for  the  administra- 
tion of  speedy  and  sure  justice,  sure  in  the  main  because  speedy. 
The  community  was  itself  held  responsible  to  the  one  injured,  so 
the  members  of  each  community  were  interested  to  prevent  injury 
of  any  of  its  members,  and  when  a  crime  had  been  committed  the 
community  was  interested  and  it  was  made  its  duty  to  arrest  the 
offender  and  bring  him  to  trial.  The  court  to  try  him  was  imme- 
diately convened,  it  was  composed  in  each  community  of  the 
elected  officers  and  of  such  hereditary  ones  as  were  in  that  place  at 
the  time,  combining  the  two  elements,  as  we  saw  in  the  institu- 
tion of  control,  of  sensitiveness  to  popular  opinion  and  skill  in 
legal  matters.  The  court  met  in  public,  generally  in  the  open  air 
at  the  city  gate  or  in  the  market  square.  The  accused  was  pro- 
tected by  the  provision  requiring  two  witnesses  to  convict.  The 
promptness  of  the  trial  was  a  means  of  securing  witnesses.  There 
seems  to  have  been  no  provision  for  appeal  to  a  higher  court  except 
through  the  action  of  the  lower  court  itself,  "if  the  matter  is  too 
hard  for  thee"  they  were  to  ask  of  the  elders  at  the  capital,  but 
the  accused  had  no  right  to  appeal  in  himself  alone.  When  one 
was  found  guilty  the  sentence  was  immediately  passed  upon  him 
and  then  it  was  at  once  executed;  and  the  executioners  were  the 
members  of  the  court  themselves  who  had  condemned  the  offender, 
sometimes  the  witnesses  were  also  executioners.  This  doubtlessly 
had  the  effect  of  making  the  court  exceedingly  cautious  to  convict 
only  when  the  case  was  clear,  it  increased  their  sense  of  responsi- 
bility. This  speedy  trial  did  away  almost  entirely  with  prison  life 
and  its  many  perplexing  problems.  There  were  prisons  in  Egypt 
in  the  time  of  Joseph,  and  in  Jerusalem  in  the  time  of  Jeremiah, 
and  in  Judea  in  the  time  of  Herod  but  they  were  the  outgrowth 
of  arbitrary  power,  and  were  not  fostered  by  the  policy  of  the  crim- 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  331 

inal  laws,  they  were  not  a  prominent  feature  of  the  organization  of 
society. 

The  second  notable  thing  in  the  laws  given  by  God  through  >^ 
Moses  is  the  clear  description  of  crime  and  the  efifort  made  to  suit 
the  punishment  in  each  case  to  the  crime.  Instead  of  one  policy 
of  imprisonment  alike  for  all  crimes,  the  element  of  time  being 
the  only  variety,  there  were  four  classes  of  penalties  suited  to 
different  crimes,  and  imprisonment  was  not  included  in  either  of 
the  four.  If  the  injury  was  mainly  to  a  man  through  his  prop- 
erty, an  injury  to  property,  there  was  to  be  full  restitution  with 
some  additional  compensation,  and  if  the  offender  was  unable  to 
pay  at  once  he  was  bound  out  to  labor  till  the  full  amount  was 
paid.  If  the  injury  inflicted  was  a  personal  one,  through  the  - 
person  or  the  relation  of  persons,  there  were  two  classes  of  penal- 
ties, one  was  stripes  limited  to  forty  save  one,  the  other  was 
retaliation,  "An  eye  for  an  eye".  In  both  classes  the  penalty  was 
to  be  inflicted  by  the  members  of  the  court  who  had  given  the 
sentence.  In  all  times  and  classes  there  has  been  the  sense  of  the 
justice  of  retaliation,  but  the  trouble  has  been  that  the  person 
injured  was  not  in  a  fit  frame  of  mind  to  inflict  it,  would  inevit- 
ably go  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  crime.  Some  have  carried  this 
objection  to  the  Hebrew  law,  but  the  retaliation  there  directed  was 
not  allowed  to  be  inflicted  by  the  person  injured,  but  by  the  court 
that  tried  the  case  and  passed  the  sentence.  This  secured  the 
infliction  of  both  stripes  and  retaliation  only  as  a  matter  of  stern 
duty,  and  removed  both  from  the  domain  of  mere  personal  feeling, 
securing  only  the  feeling  of  an  indignant  public  opinion  and  of  a 
court  of  righteous  judges. 

The  last  class  of  penalties  was  that  of  death.  The  death  pen- 
alty, too,  was  to  be  executed  by  the  members  of  the  court  of  trial. 
The  judges  who  had  tried  the  man,  who  had  passed  sentence  of 
death  upon  him  were  to  be  themselves  his  executioners.  This  pro- 
vision of  the  law  secured  here,  as  in  the  lower  crimes,  the  most 
cautious  but  firm  judgment  of  the  officers  of  the  court. 

There  were  only  four  classes  of  crimes  punished  with  death,  and 
it  was  only  in  the  first  class  that  there  could  be  any  considerable 


332  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

number  of  different  crimes.  This  is  far  different  from  the  popular 
impression ;  the  Bible  has  been  studied  so  much  theologically 
that  many  sociological  facts  of  importance  have  been  unnoticed. 
This  small  number  of  crimes  punished  with  death  is  also  in  strik- 
ing contrast  with  the  laws  of  other  ancient  nations,  and  even  in 
contrast  with  the  laws  of  Christian  nations  of  a  very  recent  past, 
and  in  a  few  cases  of  the  present  time.  In  England  less  than  two 
centuries  ago  there  were  over  one  hundred  crimes  with  the  death 
penalty.  The  four  classes  of  crime  punished  with  death  in  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible  were  murder,  adultery,  enslaving 
an  Israelite  and  treason.  The  whole  policy  of  the  Hebrew  laws 
was  strong  to  guard  life.  The  inflicting  the  death  penalty,  that 
is  the  judicial  taking  of  life  was  only  directed  in  the  guarding  of 
life.  Murder,  was  then  as  now — the  intentional  and  wrongful 
taking  of  life,  with  malice  prepense.  Adultery  was  the  crime  aimed 
at  the  family,  and  polluted  the  source  of  life.  Enslaving  an 
Israelite  was  spoiling  the  life  of  a  brother.  Treason  was  aiming  at 
the  social  organization  a  deadly  blow,  endangering  individual  life 
and  the  life  of  society  itself.  In  adultery  it  was  expressly  pro- 
vided that  both  parties  were  to  be  regarded  as  equally  guilty,  and 
both  were  to  be  stoned  to  death  by  the  judges.  It  was  only  in 
treason  that  there  could  be  a  variety  of  acts  embraced  in  that 
crime.  Blasphemy,  idolatry,  witchcraft  and  Sabbath  breaking 
were  crimes  of  treason.  We  are  not  accustomed  to  regard  them 
as  such,  we  have  studied  our  Bible  for  theology  rather  than 
sociology,  and  we  have  regarded  these  as  offences  against  religion, 
and  have  thought  the  laws  were  so  severe  as  to  be  justified  only 
by  the  circumstances  of  that  early  day.  But  we  have  seen  in  our 
study  of  the  institution  of  control,  that  God  was  the  chosen 
King  of  the  nation,  that  underlying  the  whole  government  was 
the  authority  of  God,  the  Supreme  Ruler.  Blasphemy,  idolatry 
and  witchcraft  were  thus  insulting,  rebelling,  and  undermining  the 
King,  and  through  Him  the  whole  national  life.  Sabbath  break- 
ing was  also  in  the  nature  of  treason.  The  Sabbath  showed  the 
relation  between  God  and  His  people,  was  its  symbol,  was  the 
national   banner.      In   the   early   days  of   our  civil   war   General 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  333 

Dix  issued  an  order  "If  any  man  hauls  down  the  American  flag 
shoot  him  on  the  spot",  and  it  met  with  the  universal  approval 
of  the  loyal  nation,  it  was  in  the  nature  of  treason  to  insult  the 
banner  of  the  nation.  The  other  classes  of  crimes  in  the  nature 
of  treason  were  ofFences  of  children  against  their  parents,  the 
parental  relation  and  authority  being  regarded  then  as  it  must  be 
regarded  still  as  the  foundation  of  all  authority  in  the  state. 

The  six  Levitical  cities  set  apart  by  Joshua  as  Cities  of  Refuge 
in  obedience  to  a  command  of  God  through  Moses  were  to  be 
used  to  guard  the  unwitting  slayer  against  the  quick  exercise  of 
the  natural  law  of  retaliation,  but  were  not  in  any  way  to  be  the 
refuge  of  the  murderer,  he  was  to  be  delivered  up  on  demand  to  the 
elders  of  the  city  where  the  crime  had  been  committed.  They 
soon  passed  out  of  use.  Much  use,  perhaps  too  much,  has  been 
made  of  them  to  enforce  religious  lessons ;  they  seem  to  have  had 
little  or  no  use  sociologically. 

It  is  quite  clear  from  this  concise  description  that  modern  pen- 
ology can  learn  at  least  two  principles  from  Hebrew  policy  of 
great  value  to  society  today,  the  first  is  that  of  speedy  administra- 
tion of  justice,  the  second  is  that  of  adapting  the  penalty  to  the 
nature  of  the  offence,  perhaps  a  third  is  a  more  simplified  defini- 
tion of  particular  crimes.  How  these  principles  may  be  applied  to 
the  complex  conditions  of  society  will  be  a  comparatively  easy  mat- 
ter if  their  nature  is  once  fully  recognized.  But  the  all  embracing 
principle  is  that  running  through  all  Hebrew  social  life,  the 
principle  of  righteousness  in  the  relation  of  man  to  man.  The 
state  is  to  seek  the  good  of  all  its  members.  All  the  citizens  of  the 
state  are  equal  before  God,  the  Supreme  Ruler,  and  are  to  treat 
one  another  as  brothers.  This  spirit  checks  the  growth  of 
abnormal  individuals,  and  also  of  abnormal  conditions,  and  wisely 
and  efficiently  seeks  nothing  less  than  the  removal  of  crime. 

Within  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  great  advance  made 
in  penal  reform  in  our  land,  and  it  has  been  in  the  line  of  evolu- 
tion through  the  thought  of  lovers  of  mankind,  through  the  action 
of  judges  in  administering  their  courts,  along  the  line  of  such 
advancing  thought,  and  at  length  this  has  become  crystalized  in  the 


334  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

laws  of  several  of  our  states.  This  evolution  has  been  along  the 
Bible  lines  of  righteousness  between  the  state  and  man  its  member, 
and  of  brotherly  treatment  of  man  by  man.  The  Hon.  S.  J. 
Barrows,  Commissioner  for  the  United  States  on  the  International 
Prison  Commission  makes  the  startling  statement  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  greatest  Penologist  of  all  the  ages,  and  says  we  need  not 
"Go  back  to  Jesus"  so  much,  as  "Go  forward  to  Jesus".  It  may 
be  adding  a  great  deal  to  this,  but  yet  it  is  not  too  startling  to  say, 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  greatest  Social  Pathologist  of  all  climes 
and  of  all  times.  He  describes  himself  as  coming  to  save  sinners, 
and  all  men  are  sinners  against  their  fellows  as  well  as  against 
God.  He  is  the  King  of  Righteousness,  and  His  Kingdom  is  to 
be  one  of  social  health. 
pt.  There  are  at  least  five  principles  in  the  teaching  and  practice  of 
Christ  which  apply  to  pathology  in  general  and  have  a  special 
application    to   penology. 

First — His  theory  was  reformative  rather  than  punitive,  surely 
rather  than  vindictive.  It  is  more  important  to  save  men  than  to 
destroy  them.  He  said  to  the  punitive  and  vindictive  John,  You 
know  not  my  spirit,  the  spirit  you  should  have.  Society  brutalizes 
itself  and  its  victim  unless  it  seeks  to  save. 

Secondly — Jesus  dealt  with  the  offender  rather  than  with  the 
offence.  He  had  one  mode  of  dealing  with  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
another  for  the  rich  young  man,  one  with  Mary  Magdalene, 
another  for  Matthew,  the  publican,  another  for  Zacheus.  He 
tells  society  to  enlist  the  power  of  love  as  a  redemptive  force,  to 
bring  to  bear  some  personal  consideration  and  brotherly  dealing 
with   each  offender. 

Thirdly — He  used,  and  commends  the  use  to  society,  the  prin- 
ciple of  probation,  saying  frequently  even  to  old  offenders  "Go  and 
sin  no  more".  He  gave  them  another  chance,  a  new  trial,  with 
the  memory  of  his  loving  help  to  inspire  them  with  hope  and 
courage. 

Fourthly — In  his  direction  to  His  disciples  for  their  self-gov- 
ernment in  their  social  relation  He  taught  that  all  discipline  should 
seek  to  win  the  offender  to  a  brotherly  life,  it  should  be  adminis- 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  335 

tered  when  necessary,  but  only  in  a  brotherly  spirit.  There  should 
be  the  forgiving  spirit  for  all  and  every  sign  of  repentance. 
There  should  be  the  utmost  consideration  for  the  brother,  and  the 
utmost  pains  to  make  him  see  his  error,  there  must  not  be  the 
indulgence  of  any  grudge,  or  any  vindictive  spirit.  Think  not 
about  the  injury  done  to  you  but  about  the  injury  the  offending 
brother  has  done  to  himself,  and  strive  to  win  him  from  his  hate 
by  the  considerate  exercise  of  your  love.  All  discipline  should  be 
the  loving  administration  of  righteousness  for  the  brother's  good. 
In  His  description  of  the  last  Judgment  He  makes  this  standard 
of  character  the  basis  of  judgment,  and  social  character  is  com- 
posed of  individual  character,  and  He  at  the  same  time  shows 
His  sympathy  for  the  needy  as  He  represents  Himself  sharing 
their  hard  lot,  "I  was  hungry  and  ye  gave  me  to  eat,  I  was  thirsty 
and  ye  gave  me  drink,  I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in,  naked 
nad  ye  clothed  me.  I  was  sick  and  ye  visited  me,  I  was  in  prison 
and  ye  came  unto  me".  "Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these 
my  brothers,  these  least,  ye  did  it  unto  me". 

Fifthy — He  made  a  difference  between  the  first  offence  and  the 
persistent  and  determined  offender.  He  was  the  greatest  child 
savior  of  the  world,  and  child  saving  is  one  of  the  marked  features 
of  modern  penal  reform.  He  was  the  most  patient,  watchful  and 
faithful  probation  officer  of  all  the  ages,  and  probation  and  parole 
are  marked  features  of  penal  reform.  But  persistent  and  deter- 
mined offenders,  offenders  in  the  face  of  all  light  and  knowledge, 
against  all  warning  and  pleading,  offenders  who  would  destroy  the 
moral  and  spiritual  life  of  their  fellow  men,  all  these  found  in  His 
denunciation  of  the  Pharisees  a  tone  of  voice  and  an  indignant 
righteousness   that  made   them   tremble. 

The  two  simple  principles  of  modern  penal  reform  are  found 
in  the  line  of  Christ's  teachings,  the  only  wonder  is  that  they 
are  so  late  in  being  adopted.  The  first  is  that  the  object  of  the 
treatment  of  the  criminal  is  not  his  punishment,  but  the  protection 
of  society  by  changing  him  to  a  law  abiding  citizen.  The  second 
is  that  it  is  possible  to  change  old  habits  and  create  new  ones  by 
coercive  measures  long  enough  applied,  to  produce  what  physiolo- 


336  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

gists  and  psychologists  call  structural  changes,  physical  and  mental. 
The  first  leads  to  the  maxim,  "never  imprison  a  man  but  as  a  last 
resort".  The  second  leads  to  the  maxim,  "as  a  last  resort  imprison 
him  until  he  is  fit  to  be  freed,"  until  he  gives  fair  promise  of  being 
a  self-supporting  and  law  abiding  citizen.  The  first  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  probation,  the  second  is  the  principle  of  indeterminate 
sentence,  the  prison  a  reformatory  and  industrial  school,  and  the 
freedom  on  parole  as  an  incitement  to  good  behavior  while  in 
prison  and  a  help  to  good  conduct  when  released.  The  old  idea 
that  severity  of  punishment  acts  as  a  deterent  of  others  from  com- 
mitting kindred  offences  is  almost  discarded,  entirely  discarded  at 
the  beginning  of  minor  offences,  and  accepted  only  in  the  gen- 
eral treatment  of  the  hardened  cases  by  the  indeterminate  sen- 
tence. 

New  York  State  in  1900  had  no  parole  law,  sent  its  criminals  to 
prison  for  fixed  terms,  then  set  them  entirely  free ;  and  reports  that 
seventy  per  cent  of  them  returned  at  once  to  lives  of  crime.  That 
same  year  ten  other  states  had  parole  laws.  Nine  of  them  report 
that  over  ninety  per  cent  of  those  paroled  became  law  abiding 
citizens.  Connecticut  reports  that  all  became  such,  one  of  these 
ten  states,  Pennsylvania,  reports  that  eighty-five  per  cent  became 
good  citizens.  New  York  in  1904  adopted  the  parole  system  for 
its  young  criminals.  Judge  Cleland  of  the  Chicago  Police  Court 
heard  of  a  church  that  looked  after  its  weak  brothers  by  appointing 
an  elder  brother  for  each  tempted  man ;  and  began  to  apply  that 
principle  in  the  conduct  of  his  court.  A  man  was  tried  for  drunk- 
enness and  convicted.  The  Judge  inflicted  the  maximum  sentence ; 
then  considered  a  motion  made  to  vacate  the  sentence.  He  post- 
poned action  on  the  motion  for  two  weeks,  and  released  the  man 
on  his  own  word,  having  secured  his  promise  not  to  drink,  and  to 
work  faithfully.  There  were  four  hundred  men,  who  voluntarily 
assisted  the  Judge  as  parole  officers,  true  elder  brothers.  If  the 
paroled  man  forfeited  his  bail  he  was  sent  to  jail.  If  he  came 
back  in  two  weeks  and  reported  all  well,  and  his  parole  officers 
so  reported,  he  was  released  for  another  two  weeks;  and  so  indef- 
initely.    So  a  Judge  with  the  modern  spirit  and  without  a  special 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  337 

State  law  pursues  the  teachings  of  Christ.  Of  the  one  thousand 
and  more  cases  passing  through  his  court  in  1905  nine  hundred 
and  thirty  were  recovered  to  society,  the  other  seventy  were  sent 
to  the  county  jail  for  the  maximum  term.  The  Judge  holds  over 
them  the  sentence,  and  enforces  it  when  they  fail  to  keep  their 
parole,  and  though  drunkards  are  a  hard  class  to  reform  this  suc- 
ceeds in  reforming  a  great  majority  of  those  who  have  gone  so 
far  down  as  to  come  before  a  police  court. 

But  of  course  it  is  in  the  formative  period  of  manhood  that  the 
most  efficient  work  is  done.  The  most  notable  development  in 
judicial  methods  in  the  last  five  years  has  been  in  the  establish- 
ment of  juvenile  courts.  A  children's  court  is  a  criminal  court 
with  a  new  function,  that  of  salvation.  Children  have  before 
been  judged  by  the  same  laws  and  in  the  same  spirit  with  adults, 
and  often  sent  to  the  same  jails,  confined  in  the  same  tiers  and 
even  in  the  same  cells  with  hardened  criminals.  The  main  ques- 
tion has  been,  did  he  know  a  particular  action  was  wrong,  and  how 
much  shall  he  be  punished  for  doing  it ;  the  attitude  of  society 
has  been  punishment  and  repression.  The  juvenile  court  does  not 
have  its  main  purpose  punishment,  it  holds  that  no  child  should 
be  punished  as  an  example,  its  main  purpose  is  not  even  reforma- 
tion, it  hesitates  to  send  him  to  a  juvenile  reformatory,  but  its 
main  purpose  is  formation,  to  guide  the  child  to  become  a  man. 
The  first  children's  court  was  established  in  Chicago  in  1899; 
the  juvenile  court  law  of  Illinois  was  passed  as  a  protest  against 
educating  the  children  in  crime.  Such  courts  are  now  in  many 
cities  of  at  least  eight  states.  The  children's  court  tries  admonition 
and  probation.  It  has  paid  and  volunteer  probation  officers,  the 
women  probation  officers  of  Chicago  are  supported  by  the  Chicago 
Women's  Club.  The  court  dispenses  as  far  as  possible  with 
elaborate  and  technical  procedure,  it  finds  the  personality  of  the 
judge  and  of  the  probation  officer  the  highest  elements  of  its 
success.  Judge  Tuthill  of  Chicago  says  "I  try  to  act  in  each  case 
as  I  would  were  it  my  own  son  before  me  in  my  library  at  home 
charged  with  misconduct".  Judge  Stubbs  of  Indiana  says  "It  is 
the  personal  touch  that  does  it.     If  I  can  get  my  hand  on  the 


338  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

boy's  head  and  my  arm  around  him  I  can  in  nearly  every  case  win 
his  confidence".  Judge  Lindsey  of  Denver  may  be  called  the 
father  of  the  juvenile  court,  though  he  began  his  tactful  and 
beneficent  treatment  of  young  offenders  under  the  old  lav^^s.  At 
the  last  election  he,  a  Democrat  was  not  only  nominated  by  his 
own  party,  but  by  all  the  other  parties  in  the  heartiest  manner; 
this  shows  the  popular  approval  of  a  Judge  not  because  of  the 
number  he  has  condemned  but  of  the  number  he  has  saved.  In 
Denver  for  the  last  few  years  out  of  over  seven  hundred  brought 
before  the  court  it  became  necessary  to  commit  only  ten  per  cent 
to  the  State  Industrial  School,  while  before  at  least  seventy-five 
per  cent  were  sent  to  such  schools  and  reformatories.  Of  the 
nearly  six  hundred  children  placed  on  probation  of  whom  thirty- 
nine  were  girls,  only  thirty-one,  all  of  them  boys,  were  returned 
to  the  court,  and  these  because  of  hopeless  home  surroundings. 
The  economic  gain  was  also  great.  The  Governor  of  Colorado 
declared  that  in  a  year  and  a  half  the  Juvenile  Court  in  Denver 
had  saved  the  State  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In 
New  Jersey  there  has  also  been  a  decided  decrease  in  the  number 
of  children  brought  into  court,  showing  the  deterent  effect  of  the 
system. 

With  the  whole  system  of  modern  penal  reform  the  need  is  made 
manifest  of  expert  probation  officers,  prison  officers  and  judges. 
Men  with  the  ideal  of  saving,  and  culturing  themselves  in  the 
art  of  saving,  and  acting  according  to  the  principles,  spirit  and 
practice  of  the  Savior  of  the  world. 

There  are  three  vices  fearfully  prevalent  in  our  Christian  civiliz- 
ation, which  have  been  and  still  are  prevalent  generally  in  pagan 
lands,  but  which  do  not  seem  to  have  flourished  at  all  in  the  par- 
ticular society  of  the  Bible.  It  may  be  assumed  that  these  preva- 
lent vices  have  been  fostered  by  the  vital,  industrial  and  social 
theories,  customs  and  practices  which  may  be  called  abnormal  con- 
ditions. It  may  be  of  some  profit  to  compare  somewhat  these 
vices  and  to  estimate  how  the  policy  of  Bible  society  has  checked 
both  the  abnormal  individuals,  and  the  abnormal  conditions  fos- 
tering them. 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  339 

The  first  is  the  vice  of  sexual  impurity.  Mulhall  says  the  pro- 
portion of  illegitimate  births  has  not  varied  much  in  the  last  thirty 
years,  that  in  Ireland  it  is  26  to  every  1,000  births,  in  England  it  is 
42,  in  Scotland  it  is  72,  in  France  it  is  88,  in  Sweden  it  is  107,  in 
Austria  it  is  145,  and  in  the  United  States  it  is  70.  Difficulties 
attending  legal  marriage  account  to  some  extent  for  the  large 
proportion  in  Austria.  The  report  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen 
in  New  York  City  states  that  in  1893  in  that  city,  now  the  Bor- 
ough of  Manhattan,  there  were  40,000  prostitutes.  The  Prefect  of 
Police  of  Paris  estimated  there  were  100,000  prostitutes  in  that  city 
in  the  same  year.  Mr.  Goodchild  of  the  committee  estimates  that 
there  are  five  fallen  men  for  every  fallen  woman,  which  would 
make  200,000  fallen  men  in  Manhattan ;  but  prostitution  is  not 
supported  by  residents  alone.  The  committee  says  the  police  often 
protect  houses  of  prostitution,  and  gives  as  an  example  that  a 
house  of  ten  inmates  paid  $500  initiation  fee  to  the  wardsman  and 
$50  a  month  for  immunity;  and  estimates  the  amount  of  ill  busi- 
ness done  in  that  single  house.  The  District  Attorney  of  New 
York  City  recently  declared  that  2,000  of  the  2,509  hotels  of 
New  York  City  were  open  houses  of  prostitution ;  and  that  this 
condition  had  been  fostered  by  the  Raines  Law,  designed  to  check 
intemperance,  a  law  designed  to  check  one  vice  resulting  in  foster- 
ing another.  The  committee  says  the  system  of  regulating  the 
vice  practiced  in  some  European  cites  is  no  radical  or  adequate 
remedy  even  for  the  physical  evils  of  the  vice. 

An  investigation  in  Massachusetts  of  nearly  4,000  pros- 
titutes shows  that  1,200  came  from  home  liife  having  no 
other  occupation,  1,100  had  been  servants,  500  had  been  dress- 
makers and  seamstresses,  300  had  been  in  factories,  100  in  stores 
and  offices  and  50  had  been  upon  the  stage.  There  is  a  class  of 
men  called  cadets,  who  lure  girls  to  their  ruin  and  then  are  sup- 
ported by  their  ill-gotten  gains.  The  charity  organization  states 
that  thousands  of  immigrant  girls  landing  at  Ellis  Island  are 
annually  forced  or  lured  into  habits  of  harlotry.  The  committee 
agree  upon  five  or  six  remedies,  better  housing  of  the  poor,  raising 
the  conditions  of  labor,  better  mora)   education,  purer  forms  of 


y. 


340  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

amusement,  contagion  checked  by  more  adequate  hospital  condi- 
tions, and  strong  condemnation  of  public  opinion.  The  public 
opinion  evidently  needs  correcting  and  stimulating  which  ignores 
the  sin  on  man's  part  and  visits  its  severe  condemnation  on  the 
woman ;  the  social  and  business  code  that  does  not  frown  upon  the 
man  but  casts  out  the  woman  needs  the  tonic  of  the  Hebrew  law. 
The  poem  of  Brooke  has  the  lightning  of  God's  wrath  in  it — 

"Three  men  went  out  one  summer's  night 
No  care  had  they  or  aim 
And  dined  and  drank,  e're  we  go  home 
We'll  have,  they  said,  a  game; 
Three  girls  began  that  summer's  night 
A  life  of  endless  shame. 
And  went  through   drink,  disease  and  death 
As  swift  as  racing  flame; — 
Lawless  and  homeless,  foul,  they  died ; 
Rich,   loved,   and  praised  the  men; 
But  when  they  all  shall  meet  with  God 
And  Justice  speaks:     What  then?" 

That  sexual  impurity  existed  but  did  not  flourish  in  the  par- 
ticular society  of  the  Bible  seems  quite  evident;  though  the  his- 
tory is  concise  several  glaring  instances  are  given,  but  the  whole 
back  ground  seems  one  of  prevailing  virtue.  When  we  look  at 
the  laws  given  by  God  through  Moses  we  find  two  marked 
features,  first,  harlotry  was  prohibited,  second,  the  man  was 
regarded  as  equally  guilty  with  the  woman  in  the  case  of  adultery, 
and  both  were  punished  with  death.  When  we  look  at  the  policy 
of  the  society  lying  back  of  and  nourished  by  these  and  other  laws 
of  the  family  we  see  the  honorable  position  of  woman,  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  sexual  relation  in  marriage,  and  the  guarding  its  purity 
as  the  source  of  life.  The  Committee  of  Fifteen  call  for  better 
conditions  of  labor  and  living,  we  have  already  seen  such  condi- 
tions were  fostered  in  Hebrew  practice.  The  moral  education 
and  the  public  opinion  recommended  by  the  committee  must  follow 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  341 

the  Bible  policy  of  subordinating  the  sexual  instincts,  to  the  ideal 
of  life  and  of  the  marriage  it  inculcates.  They  must  awaken  and 
foster  that  kind  of  idealism  which  starts  into  life  all  the  springs 
of  self-respect,  of  chivalrous  and  generous  feeling  toward  woman, 
of  desire  for  and  consideration  for  offspring,  and  of  that  mutual 
love  at  once  passionate  and  spiritual,  which  alone  can  give  sac- 
redness  to  the  relation  of  man  and  woman  in  marriage,  and  which 
guards  against  all  improper  relation  out  of  marriage,  which 
makes  impure  indulgence  impossible  both  by  outward  law  and 
by   inward   spirit. 

The  second  vice  prevalent  in  our  Christian  civilization  is  intem-  , 
perance  in  intoxicating  drinks.  Since  the  discovery  of  alcohol  and 
the  art  of  distilling  it,  stronger  drinks  than  could  be  obtained  by 
fermentation  have  been  common,  and  modern  intemperance  has 
had  possibilities  of  indulgence  ancient  intemperance  did  not  pos- 
sess. If  is  claimed  that  one  reason  why  American  workmen  sur- 
pass those  of  other  lands  is  that  they  drink  less  intoxicants.  The 
average  drink  of  the  Englishman,  Frenchman,  and  German  is 
over  thirty  gallons  of  spirits  of  all  kinds  each  year,  while  the 
American  drinks  only  a  little  over  fifteen  gallons.  This  is  a 
tremendous  amount  of  drink  for  each  drinker  however,  whatever 
nationality  we  consider,  when  there  are  so  many  in  each  who  do 
not  drink  at  all.  Intemperance  is  a  large  cause  of  poverty  beyond 
doubt,  and  it  is  equally  clear  that  poverty  is  a  large  cause  of  intem- 
perance. The  insufficient  food  and  lack  of  comfort  and  healthful 
condition  in  the  home  lead  the  way  to  the  saloon.  The  saloon  has 
Its  attraction  of  warmth,  comfort,  music,  games,  freedom  from 
restraint,  equality,  democratic  privilege,  many  social  allurements, 
with  drinking  expected  and  provided.  .Many  ways  have  been 
devised  by  society  in  different  climes  and  times  to  check  the  grow- 
mg  vice.  The  Bible  policy  of  self-control,  the  true  temperance 
m  all  things,  and  of  high  views  of  life  and  responsibility  to  the 
Supreme  King  checks  the  abnormal  individual;  and  the  policy 
that  fosters  industry  and  its  rewards  and  sociability  of  equals  in 
pnvilege  and  duties  checks  the  abnormal  conditions  fostering  this 
vice. 


342  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

The  third  vice  prevalent  in  Christian  lands  is  gambling.  A  bill 
recently  introduced  in  Congress  and  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
judiciary  committee  declares  against  some  features  of  business 
conducted  in  our  stock  exchange  as  disguised  gambling,  an  intense 
and  bad  kind,  all  the  v^^orse  for  the  disguise.  Many  students  of 
the  subject  charge  that  the  churches  often  awaken  and  foster 
gambling  in  their  fairs  and  other  devices  for  raising  money.  There 
is  much  gambling  in  social  games,  often  involving  large  sums  of 
money.  Besides  there  is  the  large  and  enticing  gambling  business, 
where  men  of  all  classes,  and  women  too,  in  betting  in  one  form 
or  another  risk  a  little  that  they  may  win  much.  The  fever  grows 
and  in  many  cases  becomes  a  craze,  when  the  risk  is  no  longer 
little  but  involves  business  and  home  and  the  future  in  time  and 
eternity.  The  race  track  may  do  a  great  deal  of  good  in  fostering 
the  finest  breed  of  horses,  and  may  have  in  itself  a  great  deal  of 
healthful  excitement  but  when  betting  is  associated  with  it  and 
freely  indulged  there  rises  a  brood  of  evils  hard  to  estimate  and 
sure  to  degrade  the  breed  of  men.  Race  track  gambling  becomes  a 
mania,  converting  men  from  useful  and  honorable  into  useless  and 
dangerous  members  of  society,  and  causing  a  wail  of  despair  from 
ruined  lives,  wasted  fortunes  and  destroyed  homes  that  lingers  long 
after  the  shouts  of  the  race  course  have  died  away.  It  is  said  that 
$80,000,000  are  invested  in  race  tracks  in  New  York  City  alone, 
and  that  in  1906  the  receipts  of  the  tracks  of  the  State  of  New 
York  were  over  $4,000,000,  and  that  race  track  gambling  as 
allowed  in  the  State  rages  fearfully;  and  Governor  Hughes  is  try- 
ing to  awaken  public  opinion  to  abolish  it.  The  vice  while  asso- 
ciated with  things  not  vicious  in  themselves,  the  spirit  of  play,  the 
taste  for  excitement,  the  love  of  taking  some  risk,  is  after  all 
clearly  seen  to  be  in  its  desire  to  get  something  for  nothing.  The 
fact  that  the  one  who  loses  agreed  to  take  the  risk  and  wanted  to 
win,  and  that  all  have  the  excitement  of  the  risk,  does  not  change 
the  fact  that  the  winner  gave  no  equivalent  for  the  thing  won. 
The  whole  policy  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  as  we  have 
seen  fostered  industry  and  honesty,  the  getting  things  needed  by 
giving  a  fair  equivalent  for  them,  and  so  antagonized  the  gambling 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  343 

spirit.  While  gambling  was  not  entirely  absent  we  find  hardly  a 
trace  of  it  in  the  frankly  clear  pictures  of  social  life  given  in  the 
Bible.  It  was  Roman  soldiers  who  gambled  over  the  robe  of  Christ. 

We  of  course  must  regard  the  political  corruption  when  wealth 
tries  to  buy  votes,  office,  legislation  and  judicial  favors,  and  police 
corruption  when  vice  and  crime  try  to  buy  immunity  from  the 
penalty  of  violated  laws,  as  forms  of  vice  in  themselves,  and  it 
cannot  be  questioned  that  they  are  deadly  blows  to  good  govern- 
ment in  city,  state  or  nation,  and  that  they  already  exist  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  form  a  serious  menace  to  our  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment and  to  our  social  welfare;  and  that  an  enlightened  and 
vigorous  public  opinion  should  be  aroused  against  them.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  find  better  material  and  spirit  to  enlighten  and  stim- 
ulate public  opinion  to  antagonize  and  banish  these  vices  than  can 
be  found  in  the  institution  of  control  we  have  just  considered, 
and  the  moral  law  and  the  religious  teachings  prevailing  in  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  social  diseases  is  social  inactivity. 
There  are  many  divisions  of  the  class  of  the  socially  inactive,  those 
who  are  deficient  in  physical,  mental  or  moral  health,  deficient 
acutely  for  a  little  while,  or  deficient  chronically  for  all  time. 
There  are  said  to  be  100,000  imbeciles  in  the  United  States,  and 
that  seventy  per  cent,  of  these  are  children  of  imbecile  parents. 
Society  is  trying  to  prevent  the  marriage  of  imbeciles,  but  there 
are  so  many  degrees  of  imbecility  above  that  of  absolute  helpless- 
ness, and  some  are  so  nearly  normal  that  the  problem  seems  almost 
insolvable. 

Dr.  White  of  the  Government  Hospital  for  the  Insane  says  that 
insanity  is  curiously  proportioned  in  the  United  States.  In  the 
New  England  and  Middle  States  there  is  one  insane  person  to 
ever}/  400  of  the  population,  in  the  Western  States  there  is  one  to 
every  700,  in  the  Southern  States  one  to  every  900,  in  the  Rocky 
Mountain  division  one  to  every  1,200,  and  along  the  Pacific  Slope 
one  to  every  400.  The  intensity  of  the  climate  and  of  the  excited 
life  along  the  shores  of  oceans,  and  that  these  shores  were  settled 
at  first  by  people  of  high  enterprise  and  nerve  stress  account  per- 

23 


344  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

haps  for  the  double  proportion,  while  closeness  to  the  soil  makes 
hardy  sober-minded  men,  and  mountain  grandeur  calms  man's 
wild  fancies  and  ambitions.  Perhaps  also  density  of  population 
and  the  excitement  incident  to  it  doubles  the  proportion  of  the 
insane. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  socially  inactive  at  any  particu- 
lar time  are  those  laid  aside  on  sick  beds,  the  deficient  in  physical 
strength  for  a  little  while,  the  individuals  of  this  class  are  con- 
stantly changing,  but  the  class  itself  remains  quite  constant.  Gen- 
eral sanitary  conditions  are  so  thoughtfully  and  considerately 
administered  by  society  that  this  constant  class  shall  be  as  small 
as  possible  and  constantly  diminishing. 

But  the  two  class  of  the  socially  inactive  much  larger  than  all 
the  others  combined  are  at  the  two  extremes  of  society,  the  paupers 
and  the  idle  from  choice,  we  may  call  them  the  idle  among  the 
well-to-do  and  rich,  those  who  constantly  live  upon  society  without 
contributing  anything  to  its  welfare,  parasites  on  the  social  body. 

The  policy  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  fostered  social 
health  and  reduced  the  elements  of  sickness  whether  of  body  or 
mind  to  the  smallest  extent  possible.  The  most  modern  and 
scientific  medical  advice  for  the  preservation  of  the  general  health 
would  say  "Be  free  from  anxiety,  be  occupied,  be  temperate".  So 
the  Bible  would  check  disease  from  spreading  widely  and  wildly 
by  saying  "Be  not  anxious  for  the  morrow.  Be  diligent  in  busi- 
ness. Be  temperate  in  all  things".  The  law  requiring  rest  one 
day  in  seven  is  generally  conceded  to  be  for  the  good  of  body  and 
mind,  guarding  against  their  exhaustion.  If  our  overworked  pro- 
fessional and  business  men  and  our  absorbed  society  women  would 
obey  this  law,  and  if  in  addition  they  would  observe  the  Sabbatical 
year,  would  one  year  in  seven  take  relief  from  mental  strain,  we 
may  be  sure  nervous  prostration  would  not  have  so  many  victims 
nor  our  asylums  be  so  greatly  thronged.  The  Bible  long  before 
the  circulation  of  blood  was  discovered,  long  before  the  microbes 
of  disease  were  known,  directed  attention  to  the  all  embracing 
truth  of  modern  medical  research — "the  blood  is  the  life".  The 
Bible  taught  and  practiced  in  leprosy  that  the  proper  treatment  of 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  345 

contagious  diseases  was  by  isolation.  The  laws  of  Moses  required 
the  most  sanitaiy  disposal  of  refuse  and  secured  a  supply  of  pure 
water  and  pure  air.  Dr.  Richardson  in  "Diseases  of  Modern 
Life"  says  "From  some  cause  or  causes  the  Jewish  race  presents 
an  endurance  against  disease  that  does  not  belong  to  other  portions 
of  our  civilized  communities".  This  is  attributed  by  medical 
judges  to  the  laws  of  diet  given  by  God  through  Moses.  Renouard 
in  his  "History  of  Medicine"  says  "The  writings  of  Moses  consti- 
tute a  precious  monument  in  the  history  of  medicine,  for  they  em- 
brace hygienic  rules  of  the  highest  sagacity.  Those  precepts  de- 
signed to  regulate  the  relation  of  a  man  to  his  wife  have  a  wisdom 
and  foresight  becoming  extracts  from  a  modern  work  on  hygenics". 
Dr.  Clarke  in  his  work  on  "Sex  in  Education"  says  "The  instruc- 
tors, the  homes  and  the  schools  of  our  country's  daughters  would 
profit  by  reading  the  old  Levitical  law.  The  race  has  not  yet  out- 
grown   the    physiology    of    Moses". 

When  we  consider  the  large  class  of  the  socially  inactive  who 
are  idle  from  choice,  those  of  the  well-to-do  and  the  rich — many  of 
whom  do  not  know  what  to  do  for  the  good  of  society — and  many 
of  whom  do  not  care  enough  for  their  fellow  man  to  do  anything 
however  much  it  may  be  needed,  those  features  of  the  institution 
of  industry  in  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  which  give 
employment  to  all,  which  foster  such  general  distribution  of 
wealth  that  there  shall  be  no  large  leisure  class,  and  which  culti- 
vate an  enthusiasm  for  social  welfare,  afford  a  check  to  the  growth 
of  these  parasites  of  society.  Wm.  J.  Bryan  in  one  of  his  great 
orations  makes  a  plea  for  the  dignity  of  labor:  he  says  "The  odium 
which  rests  upon  the  work  of  the  hand  exerted  a  baneful  influence 
the  world  around.  The  theory  that  idleness  is  more  honorable 
than  toil,  that  it  is  more  respectable  to  consume  what  others  have 
produced  than  to  be  a  producer  of  wealth,  has  not  only  robbed 
societ}'^  of  an  enormous  sum  but  it  has  created  an  almost  impassable 
gulf  between  the  leisure  class  and  those  who  support  them.  Be- 
cause some  imagine  themselves  above  work  while  others  see  before 
them  nothing  but  a  life  of  drudgery  there  is  constant  warring  and 
much   bitterness.     When   men   and   women   become  ashamed    of 


346  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

doing  nothing  and  strive  to  give  to  society  full  compensation  for 
all  they  receive  from  society,  there  will  be  harmony  between  the 
classes". 

One  of  the  most  distressing  and  wide  spread  disease  of  society, 
ancient  and  modern,  is  poverty,  and  Bible  sociology  has  some  very 
striking  principles  tending  to  reduce  it,  if  not  entirely  to  banish 
it.  Poverty  is  the  condition  in  which  the  total  earnings  of  the 
individual  or  family  are  insufficient  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of 
merely  physical  health,  it  covers  a  class  without  the  means  of 
approaching  a  complete  life,  it  describes  a  deficient  rate  of  con- 
sumption of  general  wealth  per  capita  for  the  general  welfare.  It 
must  be  distinguished  from  pauperism  which  describes  a  class  sup- 
ported, not  by  its  own  efforts  but  by  society.  Poverty  supports 
itself,  it  earns  its  living,  but  it  is  an  insufficient  living,  it  lives,  but 
at  a  poor  dying  rate,  without  ministering  to  the  health  of  the  gen- 
eral society  of  which  it  is  a  part  but  rather  causing  it  weakness  and 
pain.  Society  should  cultivate  happiness  and  avoid  pain  in  its 
members.  Poverty  is  the  condition  that  falls  short  of  this,  it 
diminishes  happiness  and  fosters  pain  from  insufficient  means  of 
living.  Poverty  we  sometimes  call  the  industrious  self-respecting 
poor,  while  pauperism  describes  the  poor  lacking  in  industry  and 
self-respect,  but  this  is  unjust  to  many  in  the  latter  class.  Poverty 
the  most  industrious  and  self -respected,  is  often  crowded  over  the 
verge  into  pauperism;  it  has  little  or  nothing  laid  up  for  a  rainy 
day,  it  cannot  have  for  at  best  it  has  not  had  sufficient  support  on 
the  clear  day.  When  the  rainy  day  comes  and  is  a  long  one,  when 
there  is  no  work  to  do,  when  there  is  sickness  or  death  and  the 
bread-earner  falls,  or  when  he  is  entirely  disabled,  maimed  by  his 
work  or  worn  out  or  infirm  with  age  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  to 
go  over  the  verge  into  pauperism,  he  or  she  or  both  and  their  little 
or  sickly  children  with  them. 

Poverty  is  the  chronic  condition  of  the  great  majority  in  heathen 
nations.  It  is  probably  true  that  the  majority  in  many  heathen 
lands  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  have  a  full  meal  or  a  comfortable 
bed.  Poverty  is  the  chronic  condition  of  a  large  minority  and  a 
growing  one  in  Christian  lands.    Even  in  our  new  country,  where 


SOCIAL   PATHOLOGY  347 

the  soil  is  unexhausted,  where  there  is  enormous  wealth  and  great 
enlightenment  and  much  brotherly  love,  poverty  is  a  wide  spread 
and  distressing  disease.  Charles  Booth,  the  London  Statistician, 
says  that  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  London  live  on  the 
verge  of  starvation.  In  1904  the  number  of  paupers  in  London 
was  over  127,000,  28  persons  out  of  every  1,000  were  receiving 
relief.  Mr.  Rocontree  in  "Poverty,  a  Study  of  Town  Life"  says 
that  in  York,  England,  20,000  out  of  a  population  of  75,000  are 
in  poverty.  Prof.  R.  T.  Ely  and  Mr.  Charles  D.  Kellogg,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Charitiy  Organization  Society  of  New  York  City, 
estimate  that  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  there  were  over 
3,000,000  paupers  in  the  United  States,  supported  by  society. 
Mr.  Robert  Hunter  in  his  book  on  "Poverty"  estimates  that  at 
least  10,000,000  people  in  the  United  States  are  in  poverty,  and 
that  of  these  4,000,000  are  paupers,  dependent  upon  some  form  of 
public  relief. 

That  society  provides  such  relief  is  to  be  acknowledged  as  the 
outgrowth  of  the  brotherly  spirit.  But  it  surely  would  be  more  in 
line  with  Christian  love  to  search  for  the  causes  of  this  wide  spread 
and  distressing  disease,  and  then  to  carefully  and  faithfully  remove 
them.  We  are  to  remember  that  both  pagan  and  Christian  Rome 
fed  vast  numbers  of  the  poor  but  thereby  they  fostered  the  growth 
of  poverty,  pagan  Rome  fed  the  poor  from  fear.  Christian  Rome 
from  love,  if  you  choose  to  so  describe  the  motives,  but  in  both 
cases  they  treated  poverty  unwisely.  If  as  is  alleged  twenty  per 
cent,  of  the  people  of  Boston  and  New  York  are  supported  by 
public  and  private  charity,  if  ten  per  cent,  of  all  those  who  die  in 
New  York  City  have  pauper  burials,  if  the  poverty  class  from 
which  the  pauper  class  is  so  largely  and  constantly  recruited  is  at 
least  ten  per  cent,  of  our  entire  population,  then  there  must  be 
some  cause  or  causes  of  these  conditions,  causes  which  if  allowed 
to  continue  and  grow  will  make  such  conditions  worse  rather  than 
better  as  the  years  go  on.  The  present  must  be  cared  for  by  the 
tenderest  and  strongest  brotherly  love  the  conditions  demand,  but 
the  future  must  be  made  better  by  the  wisdom  of  love.  Abnormal 
individuals  doubtless  contribute  much  to  the  poverty  class  but  the 


348  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

larger  factor  must  be  abnormal  conditions.  By  the  census  of 
1900  the  wealth  of  the  United  States  was  over  $1,200  per  capita, 
which  would  give  the  average  family  of  five  about  $6,000  of  wealth. 
Charles  Spahr  in  his  book  "The  Present  Distribution  of  Wealth" 
says  that  less  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the  families  of  the  United 
States  possess  $5,000  of  wealth.  If  this  deficiency  is  to  be  attrib- 
uted to  abnormal  individuals,  to  indolence,  inefficiency  and  extrava- 
gance then  ninety  per  cent,  of  our  American  people  are  chargeable 
with  these  defects.  Evidently  much  of  the  deficiency,  much  of 
the  poverty  it  foreshadows,  must  be  due  to  abnormal  conditions, 
such  as  low  wages,  irregular  employment,  unsanitary  labor,  high 
rents,  high  cost  of  living  and  the  whole  political  economy  of  "each 
man  for  himself,  first  and  always". 

Now  on  the  principle  that  the  cultivation  of  the  general  health 
is  the  best  way  to  prevent  the  growth  of  disease  we  catch  a  glimpse 
ot  the  way  the  policy  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  checked 
the  growth  of  poverty.  There  are  three  causes  of  the  general 
prosperity  of  any  society. 
^  First,  a  sufficient  rate  of  the  production  of  wealth  per  capita  to 
supply  the  general  needs.  By  the  proper  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
the  manufacture  of  commodities  and  the  facilities  for  exchange 
through  the  institution  of  industry,  a  sufficiency  of  material  wealth 
must  be  provided  to  give  to  every  member  of  society  enough  to 
sustain  complete  life,  his  physical,  mental  and  moral  welfare.  The 
society  of  the  Bible  followed  the  policy  of  widely  directed  and 
thorough  industry,  which  as  we  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter 
resulted  in  a  vast  accumulation  of  wealth.  The  institution  of  the 
family  also  secured  a  vigorous  race  in  successive  generations,  a 
race  that  filled  the  land  with  hardy  manhood  and  virtuous  woman- 
hood but  did  not  overcrowd  it  with  vast  numbers  of  weaklings. 
According  to  the  law  of  evolution  the  complete  life  of  man,  the 
highest  reach  of  life  on  earth  will  be  prolific  enough  to  maintain 
and  advance  itself  but  will  not  have  such  an  excessive  birth  rate 
as  to  overcrowd  the  earth  itself  or  any  land  thoroughly  cultivated, 
and  living  in  right  relations  with  other  lands.  The  life  complete 
in   physical,   mental   and   moral   welfare  will   maintain   itself  but 


SOCIAL  PATHOLOGY  349 

there  need  be  no  fear  of  its  ever  destroying  itself  by  over-produc- 
tion. Malthus  and  Darvvin  in  their  fear  that  the  earth  w^ould  not 
have  standing  room  for  man's  progeny,  if  prosperity  v^^as  general, 
lost  sight  of  or  had  not  yet  discovered  this  law  of  evolution.  The 
idea  that  there  must  be  a  large  death  rate  based  upon  war,  disease, 
poverty,  starvation  and  such  abnormal  conditions  to  prevent  over- 
crowding,  is  utterly  unscientific. 

The  second  cause  of  general  prosperity  is  a  substantially  equal 
distribution  of  wealth  per  capita  so  that  all  the  members  of  society 
may  attain  complete  life.  If  some  classes  of  society  consume  more 
than  they  produce  or  hord,e  it  for  their  own  purposes  other  classes 
must  consume  less  than  they  produce.  Since  according  to  the  first 
cause  enough  for  all  must  be  produced  and  since  the  policy  of  the 
Bible  society  was  that  all  should  be  producers,  all  except  of  course 
children,  the  sick,  the  aged  and  the  defective,  the  policy  of  distri- 
bution of  wealth  must  be  based  upon  the  principle  of  righteousness. 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Labor,  says  "Religion 
is  the  only  solution.  The  Decalogue  is  a  good  labor  platform. 
We  are  to  have  a  new  law  of  wages  grown  out  of  religious 
thought.  The  old  struggle  was  for  mere  existence,  the  new  strug- 
gle is  for  a  wider  spiritual  manhood.  Out  of  this  struggle  is 
growing  a  new  political  economy.  With  the  process  of  the  new 
thought  there  will  be  an  alliance  of  ethics  and  economics". 
There  is  no  conflict  between  God's  law  of  righteousness  and  the 
fertility  of  the  earth.  As  was  so  often  said  in  treating  of  these 
subjects  the  policy  of  the  Bible  society  protected  and  fostered  the 
man,  while  our  modern  laws  and  customs  often  seem  to  value 
money  more  than  manhood.  The  political  economy  of  Adam 
Smith  made  man  revolve  about  capital,  the  political  economy  of 
Jesus  Christ  makes  capital  revolve  about  manhood.  That  indus- 
trial system  is  not  in  accord  with  the  mind  of  Christ  that  grinds 
up  men  and  women  to  make  money.  Christ  gave  to  every  man  the 
privilege  of  complete  life,  physical,  mental  and  spiritual,  and  com- 
plete life  is  subject  to  but  one  rule,  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself". 
The  society  that  permits  or  encourages  capital  to  take  the  lion's 
share  of  the  profits  made  by  the  combined  efforts  of  capital  and 


350  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

labor,  thereby  transgresses  that  law  and  necessarily  promotes 
poverty.  All  it  can  do  afterward  to  alleviate  poverty,  and  all  that 
capital  can  do,  cannot  in  any  way  atone  for  the  violation  of  the 
law  of  righteousness.  The  cultivation  of  poverty  is  thus  seen  not 
to  be  God's  plan  for  man's  life  on  earth,  but  a  great  wrong 
inflicted  by  man  upon  his  brother.  Markham  in  "The  Man  with 
a  hoe"  says: 

"Who  made  him  dead  to  rapture  and  despair 
A  thing  that  grieves  not,  and  that  never  hopes 
Stolid  and  stunned,  a  brother  to  the  ox? 
Who  loosened  and  let  down  this  brutal  jaw? 
Whose  breath  blew  out  the  light  within  this  brain? 

Oh  masters,  lords  and  rulers  in  ail  lands — 

Is  this  handi-work  you  give  to  God 

This  monstrous  thing  distorted  and  soul  quenched — 

Oh  masters,  lords  and  rulers  in  all  lands 

How  will  the  future  reckon  with  this  Man, 

When  this  dumb  Terror  shall  reply  to  God 

After   the   silence   of    the   centuries"? 

^  The  third  cause  for  general  prosperity  is  such  a  rational  devel- 
opment of  man's  wants  and  tastes  that  they  can  be  supplied  by  the 
actual  production  of  wealth  per  capita.  Man  has  a  great  tendency 
to  cultivate  his  wants  and  tastes  irrationally  until  they  become 
abnormal  and  extravagant,  until  they  debase  rather  then  ennoble 
him.  The  Bible  society  was  educated,  as  we  have  seen  in  the 
institution  of  culture,  to  excel  not  as  the  Greeks  in  love  of  the 
beautiful,  nor  as  the  Romans  in  love  of  power,  but  in  the  love  of 
righteousness.  There  was  a  relative  value  of  things,  each  at  its 
proper  valuation,  first  righteousness,  then  a  proper  value  placed 
upon  the  beautiful  and  the  powerful.  The  luxury  of  the  senses 
whenever  it  has  been  fostered  by  society  has  proved  disintegrat- 
ing, it  has  ministered  to  classifying  the  rich  and  the  poor,  often 
making  the  rich  very  rich,  and  the  poor  very  poor.     The  policy 


SOCIAL  PATHOLOGY  351 

of  society  that  cultivates  the  wants  and  tastes  of  men  toward 
rational  rather  than  sensual  development  lifts  up  society  as  a 
whole.  Christ  taught,  "seek  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His 
righteousness  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  to  you",  it  is  for 
the  individual  not  only  but  for  society  as  well,  beauty  and  power 
added  to  rigteousness,  an  enthusiasm  for  humanity  that  seeks  a 
widespread  culture  in  righteousness  will  incidentally  clothe  man- 
kind with  the  beauty  and  power  as  yielded  by  the  fertility  of  the 
earth  itself;  this  is  the  rational  policy  of  society.  The  policy  that 
makes  individual  wealth  the  measure  of  success  cultivates  poverty. 
The  worship  of  the  rich  is  the  degradation  of  the  poor. 

The  remedy  for  poverty  so  fearfully  prevalent  in  Christian  lands 
today  must  be  found  in  these  three  causes  of  general  prosperity  as 
found  in  Bible  sociology.  That  which  we  call  charity,  the  giving 
of  alms,  the  higher  charity,  the  giving  of  friendship,  can  at  best 
only  alleviate  the  distress,  only  the  love  of  humanity  that  insures 
justice  can  cure  poverty.  Trade  itself  can  only  alleviate  poverty. 
A  railroad  magnate  says  that  if  he  gave  all  his  wealth  it  would 
feed  the  poor  of  China  only  a  little  while,  but  that  his  railway 
and  steamships  carry  the  food  raised  in  the  central  United  States 
and  thus  feed  the  poor  of  China  for  all  time;  but  the  accumu- 
lation of  great  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  few  does  not  do  away  with 
poverty  itself  either  in  China  or  the  United  States.  The  three 
sources  of  general  prosperity  as  found  in  Bible  sociology  will  pre- 
vent poverty  itself.  This  is  the  hope  before  humanity.  Instead 
of  the  despair  of  political  economy,  instead  of  the  incomplete  life 
of  vast  multitudes  in  the  most  prosperous  lands  in  ancient  and 
modern  times,  the  Kingdom  of  God  will  make  the  earth  itself 
exceedingly  fruitful  and  will  secure  all  men,  its  subjects,  a  complete 
and  full  life,  a  general  prosperity. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Ideal  of  Social  Health. 

Society  may  be  evolving  from  past  conditions  to  future  ones,  it 
may  advance  from  one  degree  of  attainment  to  another,  and  still 
better  one.  This  evolution  is  itself  healthful,  may  be  called  social 
health,  it  even  may  be  acknowledged  the  best  health  of  which 
society  at  present  is  capable;  and  it  also  points  to  a  higher  degree 
of  health  in  the  future  which  society  is  capable  of  attaining.  If  a 
particular  society  stands  still  or  goes  backward,  evolution  for  that 
society  has  ceased,  balance  exists  or  deterioration,  and  the  future 
threatens  stagnation  or  death.  But  the  standing  still  or  going 
backward  may  be  only  temporary,  society  may  arouse  itself  out  of 
such  conditions  by  its  inherent  force,  or  be  aroused  by  some 
incursion  of  new  force,  grown  weary  or  fallen  asleep  it  may 
wake  up  or  be  awakened  to  new,  and  perhaps  even  refreshed  life, 
and  so  enter  upon  a  new  and  perhaps  more  rapid  evolution.  A 
particular  society  may  also  grow  old,  it  may  pass  its  maturity  and 
while  it  still  exists,  it  lives  in  decrepitude,  still  this  may  be  the  best 
possible  health  of  old  age,  and  even  old  society  may  be  renewed 
by  the  incursion  of  new  life.  It  is  with  society  as  with  the  indi- 
vidual, very  difficult  to  describe  health,  the  health  of  the  grow- 
ing boy  is  not  the  health  of  the  mature  man.  Besides  it  is  with 
society  as  with  the  individual,  the  standard  of  health  is  not  always 
the  same.  A  man  may  have  the  most  buoyant  health  physically 
and  very  poor  health  mentally  and  still  worse,  may  even  be  a 
very  sick  man  morally.  Some  classes  of  a  particular  society  may 
be  out  of  harmony  with  the  health  of  that  society,  and  not  recog- 
nize themselves  or  be  recognized  by  society  as  being  elments  of 
weakness  or  disease.     One  of  the  difficulties  of  considering  social 


IDEAL  OF  SOCIAL  HEALTH  353 

pathology  as  we  have  seen  is  the  absence  of  a  fixed  standard  of 
health. 

It  is  with  society  very  much  as  it  is  with  the  individual,  health 
depends  upon  many  things,  upon  heredity,  and  environment,  upon 
education  and  training,  upon  exercise  and  sustenance.  Still  all 
these  many  things  may  be  modified  by  the  will,  and  the  will  may 
be  consciously  and  steadily  choosing  an  ideal.  This  ideal  the 
social  consciousness  may  have  evolved  from  its  past  history  or  may 
have  caught  from  other  societies,  or  may  have  made  a  composite 
from  many  sources,  but  as  it  is  firmly  and  clearly  held  before 
the  will  and  eagerly  and  constantly  chosen  it  has  a  controlling 
influence  on  the  social  health.  The  ideal  of  democracy  for  exam- 
ple, has  a  vast  influence  on  the  social  health  of  our  own  country. 

The  literature  of  any  society,  if  it  has  one,  gives  as  we  have  seen 
a  description  of  society ;  in  every  stage  of  the  society  so  described 
there  was  an  ideal  in  the  nature  of  the  society  which  found  more 
or  less  clear  expression  in  the  literature,  and  there  were  possibili- 
ties of  arousing  society  to  exercise  its  inherent  forces  to  attain  its 
ideal,  that  is,  the  literature  would  give  the  data  of  descriptive 
static  and  dynamic  sociology.  The  Bible  is  a  vast  literature,  a 
single  book — we  may  well  call  it,  "The  Book",  but  it  is  also  a 
library  of  books.  These  books  are  of  several  kinds,  they  were  writ- 
ten by  many  men  of  various  ability  and  culture,  and  were  writ- 
ten in  different  periods  during  a  long  national  history. 

We  have  thus  far  gathered  and  arranged  some  data  of  descrip- 
tive sociology.  We  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  static  and 
dynamic  data  that  we  may  catch  a  view  of  the  Bible  ideal  and 
standard  of  social  health.  The  literature  of  the  Bible  is  of  three 
distinct  kinds,  narrative,  poetry  and  oratory.  It  may  be  said  in 
general  that  narrative  gives  descriptive,  poetry  gives  static  and 
oratory  gives  dynamic  sociological  material ;  but  in  general  litera- 
ture these  would  necessarily  overlap,  and  this  therefore  would  be 
only  a  vague  and  most  general  classification.  In  the  Bible  lit- 
erature there  is  in  addition  a  new  and  a  unique  feature,  dis- 
tinguishing it  from  all  other  literatures  as  we  have  already  fully 
considered,  that  of  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God  the  basis 


\ 


354  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

of  the  Hebrew  conception  of  God.  This  is  found  largely  in  the 
narrative,  and  it  largely  influences  both  the  poetry  and  the  oratory. 
God  is  the  Father  of  the  whole  race  of  mankind,  God  is  the  chosen 
King  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible.  This  is  the  revelation 
and  the  conception  combined.  Hence  all  men  are  equal  before 
God,  hence  all  men  are  brothers  in  ideality;  and  in  the  society 
choosing  God  as  Sovereign,  all  men  are  equal  before  the  King, 
and  all  men  are  brothers  in  reality;  the  ideal  is  to  some  extent 
realized,  at  least  all  are  acknowledged  brothers. 

This  progressive  supernatural  revelation  and  this  growing  con- 
ception are  found  in  the  narrative  literature  of  the  Bible,  but  the 
conception  there  is  general,  and  varies  with  changing  conditions. 
The  narrative  gives  the  revelation,  the  commands  and  the  promises 
of  God,  and  describes  how  the  people  lived  who  received  these, 
but  it  is  the  people  in  general,  in  the  life  they  attained,  the  concep- 
tion they  formed  of  God,  the  obedience  they  gave  to  Him  and  the 
trust  they  placed  in  Him.  We  may  discern  the  social  condition 
and  may  see  something  of  the  standard  of  the  social  health  pre- 
vailing as  we  read  the  narrative;  but  to  attain  a  glimpse  of  the 
social  consciousness  as  it  discerned  the  ideal  of  social  health  we 
look  to  the  poetry  of  the  Bible,  we  turn  to  those  gifted  souls  whose 
keen  insight  of  both  the  revelation  of  God  and  of  the  conception 
of  God,  and  also  of  the  possibilities  growing  out  of  the  social 
conditions  based  upon  them,  made  them  the  interpreters  of  the 
yearning  and  hoping  of  the  social  life.  In  the  oratory-  of  the  Bible 
we  find  further  the  wise  and  burning  souls  who  not  only  dis- 
cerned the  ideal  of  social  health  but  who  sought  to  arouse  the 
society  to  strive  to  attain  it,  they  rebuked  with  fearless  indignation 
its  short  comings,  and  strayings,  they  sketched  in  glowing  colors 
the  vast  alluring  possibilities,  and  they  exhorted  with  loving 
earnestness  society  to  arouse  itself  in  its  full  vigor  and  to  take 
hold  of  the  great  dynamic  help  of  God,  to  attain  the  ideal  of  social 
health. 
i—  In  the  narrative  portion  of  Hebrew  literature  we  find  three  dis- 
tinct settings  forth  of  God's  ideal  or  standard  of  social  health ; 
they  are  parts  of  the  supernatural  revelation  of  Himself.     When 


IDEAL  OF  SOCIAL  HEALTH  355 

we  come  to  estimate  the  conceptions  the  people  formed  of  this  ideal 
or  standard  we  recognize  they  were  largely  erroneous;  but  still 
the  erroneous  conceptions  were  a  peculiar  and  rich  endowment  of 
the  social  life  and  gave  promise  of  casting  off  its  errors  and  attain- 
ing to  the  ideals  of  God. 

The  first  of  these  ideals  of  social  health  is  the  Ten  Command-  "^ 
ments.  The  literature  shows  the  source  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments as  God  Himself,  and  that  He  gave  them  directly  to  the 
people;  not  as  He  gave  the  civil  and  ceremonial  laws  through 
Moses.  Moses  can  in  no  sense  be  called  the  law-giver  with 
regard  to  the  Ten  Commandments,  as  he  may  be  in  reference  to 
other  laws.  The  Ten  Commandments  in  their  mode  of  giving 
not  only  but  in  their  nature  show  they  came  from  God.  No  one 
can  claim  this  perfect  law  was  evolved  from  the  social  condition 
of  mankind  attained  by  the  civilization  of  the  Euphrates  or  of  the 
Nile  in  that  early  day,  it  surely  did  not  evolve  from  the  social 
condition  the  Hebrews  had  attained  at  that  time.  Coming  from 
God  it  is  His  ideal  or  standard  of  social  health.  It  is  His  authori- 
tative statement  of  man's  social  nature,  the  nature  He  made  is 
defined  by  the  Creator  Himself.  When  society  keeps  this  law  it 
will  attain  to  the  ideal  of  its  creator,  will  attain  to  the  highest 
possible  social  health.  Each  commandment  states  an  element  of 
man's  nature  which  man's  study  and  effort  however  thorough  can 
neither  exhaust  nor  improve;  and  each  element  while  it  magnifies 
personality  links  man  with  his  fellow  man  as  a  social  being.  The 
individual  man  and  society  can  find  health  only  as  these  elements 
attain  their  right  development.  The  first  table  of  the  law  is 
sociological,  as  well  as  theological.  Man  is  to  give  the  true  God 
the  highest  place  in  his  heart,  he  is  to  worship  Him  in  spirit,  and 
so  grow  like  Him,  he  is  to  honor  Him  in  thought  and  speech, 
he  is  to  be  like  Him  in  being  above  and  separate  from  his  work, 
and  he  is  to  give  honor  to  all  authority  coming  from  Him.  Thus 
the  elements  in  man's  nature  described  by  the  Creator  in  the  first 
table  of  His  law  show  man  as  a  social  being  and  set  forth  the 
standard  and  ideal  of  social  health.  The  second  table  is  equally 
sociological.     Man  is  to  reverence  as  coming  from  God,  and  to 


356  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

sacredly  guard  life,  and  sex,  and  property,  and  reputation,  and  his 
own  spiritual  nature,  he  is  not  to  injure  himself  spiritually  by 
thinking,  planning  or  desiring  to  violate  any  law  of  his  being  as 
given  by  God.  The  whole  law  is  God's  ideal  and  standard  of 
social  health.  That  the  people  formed  erroneous  conceptions  of 
this  ideal,  that  they  were  so  bound  and  limited  by  the  interpreta- 
tion they  put  upon  the  letter  of  the  law  that  they  lost  sight  of 
much  of  its  spirit  must  be  readily  acknowledged,  and  this  is  carried 
on  to  some  extent  by  many  reverent  students  of  the  law  to  this  day. 
Still  they  had  the  law,  many  of  them  formed  conceptions  more 
closely  conformed  to  its  spirit;  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  His 
inaugural  proclamation  as  King  gave  clear  teachings  concerning 
its  real  meaning,  removed  the  erroneous  traditions  that  had  fas- 
tened to  it,  and  brought  out  with  force  its  divine  ideal  of  social 
health. 

The  second  of  the  God  given  standards  of  social  health  is  found 
in  the  ideal  man.  The  life  of  Jesus  Christ  is  pictured  to  us  in 
those  wonderful  narratives,  the  four  gospels.  That  life  has  been 
standing  in  a  blaze  of  light  now  for  nearly  twenty  centuries,  and 
has  been  and  is  being  scrutinized  intently  during  those  many  years 
years  by  the  ablest  minds,  of  all  races,  and  of  both  His  friends  and 
foes.  Those  who  have  thought  they  had  discovered  some  flaw  in 
Him  have  not  been  able  to  point  it  out  to  the  conviction  of  any 
considerable  portion  of  mankind,  and  even  His  bitterest  foes 
acknowledge  His  general  worth.  The  general  verdict  of  the  ages 
is  that  Jesus  Christ  is  a  perfect  man.  If  all  men  lived  as  He  lived 
society  would  attain  to  the  ideal  and  standard  of  social  health. 
That  many  formed  erroneous  conceptions  of  this  ideal,  is  seen  in 
that  the  leaders  of  the  people  crucified  Him,  but  this  only  served 
to  bring  out  clearly  His  matchless  perfection  in  dying  for  His 
enemies.  Though  not  yet  fully  appreciated  He  is  honored  wherever 
known  as  teaching  the  loftiest  truths,  giving  the  example  of  the 
purest  morals,  putting  forth  the  noblest  influence,  leading  the 
thought  and  the  life  of  mankind  into  increasing  likeness  to  His 
own  splendid  manhood. 

The  third  of  the  God  given  ideals  or  standards  of  social  health 


IDEAL  OF  SOCIAL  HEALTH  357 

IS  found  in  what  we  may  call  the  hope  of  Israel.  Many  literatures 
show  that  the  golden  age  of  the  nation  has  been  left  behind,  the 
literature  of  the  Hebrews  even  in  their  most  prosperous  times 
shows  the  golden  age  was  still  ahead,  that  all  the  prosperity 
attained  was  but  the  foregleam  of  the  coming  brightness.  This 
strange  feature  of  the  literature  even  of  the  narrative  kind,  that 
has  been  noticed  so  often,  is  worthy  of  the  study  of  sociologists. 
The  narrative  of  law-givers,  of  kings,  of  manners  and  customs, 
of  ceremonials  of  religion,  of  development  of  government,  of 
relations  with  other  nations  is  so  constructed  and  is  so  filled  with 
anticipation  and  hope  that  it  points  forward  to  a  great  King  and 
a  nobler  kingdom  still  to  come.  Even  the  New  Testament  while 
a  fulfillment  of  the  hope  of  the  Old  has  its  glowing  hope,  the  King 
has  come  but  in  His  humiliation.  He  is  coming  again  in  glory,  the 
kingdom  is  at  hand,  but  its  triumphant  universal  and  everlasting 
establishment  is  in  the  future.  This  feature  of  the  narrative 
shows  that  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  always  had  an  ideal, 
it  was  often  vague,  it  was  frequently  erroneous,  it  was  sometimes 
almost  lost,  but  it  was  always  present  and  frequently  it  was  very 
bright.  When  we  seek  to  account  for  it  we  can  only  trace  it  to  the 
revelation  of  God,  it  was  the  God  given  ideal.  The  assurance 
God  gave  to  Abraham  was  cherished  by  His  descendants  to  the 
thousandth  generation,  that  God  would  bless  them  and  make  them 
a  blessing  to  the  world.  That  they  were  to  bless  the  world  some- 
times became  dim,  almost  vanished  from  their  view,  but  they 
were  sure  God  would  bless  them.  We  can  now  see  with  the  light 
of  Christ's  teaching  that  the  blessing  others  was  to  be  the  result 
of  God's  blessing  them,  that  the  highest  ideal  of  social  health  is 
to  be  like  the  Heavenly  Father,  the  great  lover  of  mankind,  the 
great  giver  of  good  and  perfect  gifts;  that  true  greatness  is  not 
in  being  served,  but  in  serving  others. 

The  poetry  of  the  Bible  is  lyric,  didactic  and  dramatic  and  each 
kind  has  its  own  special  way  of  setting  forth  the  ideal  and  standard 
of  social  health  in  the  consciousness  of  the  poet,  and  as  his  insight 
enabled  him  to  discern  it  in  the  consciousness  of  society,  dim  often 
times  and  vague,  but  existing.    The  Psalms  give  expression  to  the 


358  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

varied  experiences  of  individuals  and  of  society,  and  voice  these  in 
private  or  public  adoration  of  God  in  prayer  or  praise.  Some 
psalms  were  evidently  arranged  to  sing  in  the  Temple  worship,  by 
single  voices,  by  the  great  choir,  by  the  whole  congregation,  other 
psalms  were  for  the  family  worship,  many  for  the  soul  alone  with 
God.  Some  of  these  psalms  are  in  praise  of  the  law,  very  little 
mention  is  made  of  the  civil  law,  though  national  songs  are  fre- 
quent, still  less  mention  is  made  of  the  ceremonial  law,  though 
Temple  songs  are  many,  but  frequent  praise  is  given  to  the  moral 
law,  the  perfect  law  converting  the  soul,  and  to  the  law  as  cov- 
ering all  the  revelation  of  God  in  His  righteousness. 

Psalms  are  many  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  the  present  and  the 
future  concerning  the  coming  King,  the  greater  than  David 
though  of  David's  line.  In  these  songs  of  praise  to  the  righteous 
God  the  spirit  is  that  of  righteousness,  and  this  righteousness, 
the  ideal  in  the  song  poetry,  is  both  toward  God  and  man.  The 
kingdom  is  a  righteous  kingdom,  the  King  is  the  king  of  righteous- 
ness, and  the  man  who  stands  in  the  presence  of  the  King  must 
have  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart,  must  love  righteousness  and  hate 
iniquity,  must  bless  the  poor  and  help  the  needy.  In  the  wisdom 
literature,  the  didactic  poetry,  we  see  that  true  wisdom  consists 
of  two  things,  the  conduct  of  life  and  the  aim  of  life,  all  we  can 
know,  the  vast  stores  of  knowledge,  must  have  practical  value  in 
wisdom.  The  Proverbs  show  the  value  of  righteousness  in  self- 
control,  keeping  one  from  wasting  vices  and  directing  one  in 
relation  with  his  fellows  in  business  affairs  and  the  affairs  of  the 
state.  "The  statesman's  manual,"  "the  business  man's  code," 
"the  young  man's  guide,"  are  titles  that  will  fairly  describe  dif- 
ferent portions  of  the  book.  The  Ecclesiastes  warns  against  mak- 
ing the  pursuit  of  riches,  wisdom,  power  or  pleasure  the  aim  of 
life,  but  promises  all  these  to  the  one  who  directs  his  life  to  honor- 
ing God  in  righteousness,  acting  in  real  wisdom  as  a  responsible 
being.  The  Song  of  Songs,  the  true  love  song  of  all  the  ages, 
whatever  view  we  may  take  of  it,  speaks  of  the  spirit  of  life,  true 
love  that  resists  all  allurements  to  falseness,  true  wedded  love,  true 
love  without  regard  to  luxury  of  life,  the  love  that  responds  to 


IDEAL  OF  SOCIAL  HEALTH 


359 


the  love  o    God  and  loves  Him  with  unwavering  ardor  and  for 
Hraself  alone,  ,n  poverty  or  in  riches,  in  the  palace  or  in  the 
shepherd  s  hut,  the  undying  faithful  love.    Job,  the  great  drama 
of  all  the  ages   the  pyramid  in  the  literature  of  the  world,  depicts 
the  suffenng  of  a  good  man  under  the  government  of  a  righteous 
God,  and  shows  how  this  suffering  is  a  test  of  character-    an 
mstance  of  punishment;  an  effort  to  train  and  discipline;  a'part 
o.   the  great  mystery  of  existence;  and  how  it  prepares  one  for 
and  leads  out  mto  great  prosperity.     This  glance  at  the  poetry  of 
the  Bible  sees  many  flowers  of  rare  beauty,  some  are  brighter  in 
color  and  more  beautiful   in  form  than  others,   bu,  they  are  all 
flowers  of  righteousness.     This  listening  ,o  the  music  of  the  Bible 
hears  many  songs  of  power  and  sweetness,  some  stir  the  soul,  some 
soothe  ,t,  there  are  minor  notes  and  exultant  strains,  but  all  the 
music  IS  in  praise  of  righteousness.     The  ideal  and  standard  of 

:S~t  ''  ™'"''   '°   "^  ■■"  -"-   '  ^-'V  -   »   be 
In   the  oratory  of  the  Bible  there  is  some  prediction;    but  in 
modern  times  we  have  come  to  recognize  that  the  prophets  are 
firs    of  all  preac  ers  of  righteousness;    they  spoke  a  message 
righteousness  to  the  men  of  their  own  times,  and  because  it  was  so 

fromToH    T  T""  "  ™"''"'"''  '■'  ™""  '^"•^  "-e  only 

from  God,  1    cannot  be  accounted  for  by  ,be  foresight  of  men    in 

ts    road  outline  and  its  many  details  it  shows  supernatural  know" 

edge.    The  wise  men  of  Babylon  and  Thebes  saw  a  far  different 

future  from  that  seen  by  the  see,,  of  Jerusalem;  but  our  present  is 

as  the  seers  saw  it.     The  wise  men  of  Athens  and  Rome  slw 

Patmos,   but  our  present  is  as  the  seer  saw  it.    Even  the  prediction 
however  ,s  the  prediction  of  righteousness.     Self-seeking  on    b 
arge  as  well  a.s  ,n  the  small,  in  great  empires  as  in  individuals 

and  ruin.  The  life  of  service  on  the  large,  as  well  as  in  the  small 
m  great  empires  as  in  individuals  leads  to  self-control  and  rightZ  : 
nes^,  and  ,„  the  long  run  to  prosperity  and  security.    As  Lgland 


36o  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  the  United  States  serve  the  world  they  will  escape  the  fate 
of  Babylon  and  Rome.  The  prophets  looked  at  the  future  from 
God's  standpoint,  they  were  seers  of  righteousness,  their  ideal, 
even  in  prediction,  was  righteousness.  Aside  from  prediction  they 
were  preachers  of  righteousness.  They  looked  upon  their  own 
times  and  rebuked  them  or  praised  them  as  measured  by  the  stand- 
ard of  righteousness.  Much  of  their  oratory  is  that  of  denuncia- 
tion ;  the  policy  of  the  practical  politician,  the  success  of  the 
business  man,  the  pleasure  of  the  prosperous  if  they  were  at  all 
unrighteous,  never  blinded  the  eyes  of  these  preachers,  never 
silenced  their  tongues.  The  men  of  their  day  were  not  allowed 
to  deceive  themselves,  their  wickedness  was  stripped  of  all  its 
clothing,  and  help  up  in  its  naked  hideousness  to  the  contempt  of 
mankind.  Still  denunciation  was  only  a  means  to  an  end,  they 
used  it  fearlessly  and  faithfully,  but  only  for  the  purpose  of 
awakening  society  to  an  earnest  pursuit  of  righteousness.  Isaiah 
begins  and  closes  one  of  his  most  scathing  denunciations  with  pic- 
tures of  the  golden  age.  Ezekiel  sees  with  his  magnificent  imagi- 
nation the  vision  of  the  glory  of  God  departing  from  Jerusalem, 
because  of  its  great  corruption ;  and  the  same  glory  of  God  com- 
ing back  again  to  penitent  and  reformed  Jerusalem  to  bless  the 
city,  and  make  it  the  source  of  rivers  of  blessing  to  all  the  earth. 
Prosperity,  great  riches,  vast  power,  these  are  not  denounced ;  but 
the  wickedness  that  lived  for  them ;  these  also  are  seen  to  be  great 
blessings,  when  righteousness  is  so  great  as  to  be  worthy  of  them. 
It  will  be  hard  to  find  in  any  oratory  of  the  world  more  glowing 
descriptions  of  the  fruitfulness  of  the  earth,  of  abundant  riches,  of 
great  culture  than  are  given  by  the  prophets  of  righteousness ;  these 
are  promised  blessings  of  God  upon  the  social  condition  that  is 
essentially  righteousness.  The  greatest  orator  the  world  has  ever 
known,  the  finest  preacher  of  righteousness  of  all  the  ages,  said, 
"Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness  and  all 
these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you." 

But  there  vv^as  not  only  the  ideal  of  righteousness  in  the  social 
life  of  the  Hebrews  there  was  the  power  that  could  be  evolved  to 
attain  it,  there  are  static  data  not  only  but  dynamic  as  well  in  the 


IDEAL  OF  SOCIAL  HEALTH  361 

oratory  of  the  Bible.  The  prophets  were  not  only  or  mainly  the 
preachers  of  righteousness  as  the  principle  of  life;  they  were 
preachers  of  the  righteous  God  ever  present  with  His  people,  and 
that  they  had  likeness  to  Him  and  might  have  a  growing  fellow- 
ship with  Him.  Because  their  nature  was  so  like  His  the  guilt 
of  their  betraying  it  and  degrading  it  was  forced  home  upon  them, 
their  unrighteousness  was  itself  their  own  degradation.  They 
might  have  been  righteous  like  their  God,  they  deliberately  chose 
or  allowed  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  hideous  unrighteousness; 
when  they  might  have  lived  as  brothers  recognizing  each  other  as 
worthy  of  love ;  when  they  might  have  lived  as  sons  of  God  recog- 
nizing Him  as  worthy  of  their  supreme  love ;  they  chose  to  live  as 
brutes  dishonoring  their  Father  and  degrading  themselves.  But 
God  had  not  cast  them  off,  He  who  had  revealed  Himself  to  their 
fathers  had  not  retired  into  the  immensities,  He  was  present  with 
them.  Their  God  was  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  memory,  ever 
growing  more  dim  as  the  years  rolled  on,  He  was  just  as  really 
present  as  ever,  and  He  was  unchanged.  Hosea  judging  that  his 
own  love  for  his  way^vard  wife  and  his  straying  children  came  into 
his  life  from  God's  nature,  spoke  with  all  the  eloquence  of  deep 
emotion  of  God's  righteous  indignation  against  them  as  untrue  to 
him,  and  at  the  same  time  of  his  quenchless  love  for  them.  The 
appeal  of  the  prophets  was  to  arouse  the  people  to  recognize  their 
own  nature,  the  nature  akin  to  God,  and  to  cast  themselves  in 
penitence  and  trust  upon  His  fatherly  heart  for  help  to  recover 
themselves,  and  to  attain  the  righteousness  He  held  before  them. 
The  static  ideal  was  clearly  discerned  and  glowingly  set  forth; 
no  less  the  dynamic  sufficient  to  attain  to  it  was  lovingly  and 
earnestly  presented.  While  their  likeness  to  God  was  not  entirely 
destroyed  and  while  His  loving  presence  was  not  withdrawn  there 
was  no  cause  for  despair,  there  was  abundant  cause  for  hope. 

While  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament  were  letters  written 
to  distant  peoples  they  still  have  much  of  the  oratorical  spirit  of 
direct  and  personal  address.  They  set  forth  the  great  truths  of 
God's  existence  and  character  and  of  man's  relation  to  Him;  they 
appeal  to  man  to  cast  himself  in  penitence  and  trust  upon  the 


362  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

fatherly  heart  of  God  to  recover  His  nature,  and  to  attain  the 
righteousness  He  holds  before  them.  They  then  direct  this  right- 
eousness in  the  social  life  we  are  now  living  on  earth,  becoming 
in  this  way  the  renewers  of  the  social  health  of  mankind,  they 
apply  righteousness  to  the  relation  of  parents  and  children,  brothers 
and  sisters,  masters  and  servants,  employers  and  employees,  gover- 
nors and  subjects,  rich  and  poor,  learned  and  unlearned.  Well  it 
would  be  if  the  orators  in  the  Christian  pulpits  today  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  orators  of  the  Bible,  and  every  sermon  had  not  only 
its  subject  but  its  object,  not  only  the  setting  forth  of  the  great 
truths  but  the  application  of  these  truths  to  the  conduct  of  life, 
not  only  the  setting  forth  of  the  principles  of  righteousness,  but 
the  dynamic  appeal  that  righteousness  may  advance  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life,  in  the  family,  in  the  state,  in  industrial  relations  and 
economic  classes,  that  all  men  may  live  as  children  of  God,  and  as 
brothers  to  each  other. 

This  then  is  the  social  health  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
righteousness  of  love.  Any  stage  of  society  that  has  this  ideal  and 
is  advancing  to  it,  that  is  calling  up  all  its  own  powers  and  is  obey- 
ing and  trusting  God,  is  attaining  social  health.  Any  society  not 
having  this  ideal,  however  seemingly  cultured  and  prosperous  it 
may  be,  whatever  other  ideals  it  may  have  is  far  from  social  health ; 
it  can  only  attain  the  real  health  and  welfare  of  which  society  is 
capable  by  adopting  the  ideals  and  standards  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  Any  society,  no  matter  how  low  in  condition,  how  degraded 
in  its  ideals  and  standards,  even  though  it  be  below  the  barbarian 
stage  and  must  be  called  savage,  still  its  members  are  in  the  like- 
ness of  God  in  that  they  have  the  capabilities  of  righteousness,  they 
have  hearts  capable  of  love,  even  these  low  savages  may  be  lifted 
up  by  the  ideals  and  the  power  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


PART  IV.    THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  IN  THE  WORLD. 

CHAPTER  XXL 

Christianity  in  the  Advance  of  Civilization  from  Ancient 

Rome. 

The  growing  consciousness  of  the  Church  that  she  is  a  social 
force,  is  in  harmony  with  her  nature  as  seen  in  her  past  history. 
While  she  did  not  plan  it,  or  even  dream  it,  while  she  was  not 
conscious  of  what  she  was  doing  she  has  in  her  whole  history  been 
lifting  and  remoulding  the  general  society  of  the  world.  Sociology 
illuminates  church  history  which  is  no  longer  a  mere  record  of  her 
growth  in  numbers,  and  designed  power  and  of  her  development 
of  creeds,  government,  worship  and  morals  but  becomes  a  careful 
estimate  of  the  spreading  power  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the 
whole  earth  as  the  centuries  have  passed  in  changing  the  manners, 
customs  and  spirit  of  the  surrounding  society.  In  doing  this  church 
history  is  compelled  to  discriminate  between  an  organization  and 
a  life.  A  life  may  build  up  an  organization  and  mould  it  to  its 
purposes  and  then  other  forces  may  take  such  large  possession  of 
the  organization  and  call  themselves  by  its  name  that  their  usurpa- 
tion gives  a  distinction  to  it  foreign  to  its  real  nature.  It  is 
alleged  that  one  of  the  great  political  parties  of  our  nation,  a  thor- 
ough organization  for  noble  purposes,  is  being  thus  warped  at  the 
present  time. 

A  worldly  spirit  has  at  times  obtained  control  of  the  organization 
called  the  church  and  has  professed  to  be  Christian  but  has  been 
foreign  to  the  Christian  life,  has  warred  against  it,  abused  it  and 
even  tried  to  destroy  it.  In  the  darkest  days,  however,  when 
worldliness  was  most  powerful  in  the  church  organization,  the  real 


364  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

church  life  existed  in  the  humble  lives  of  many  sincere  followers 
of  Christ.  Someimes  church  influence  has  not  been  Christian  but 
worldly,  and  still  Christian  influence  has  gone  on  from  these 
humble  lives.  The  real  church  history  is  therefore  the  history  of 
Christianity,  the  Christ  life  in  the  lives  of  sincere  followers  of 
Christ.  Christ  "began  both  to  do  and  to  teach,"  and,  as  the  first 
verse  of  Acts  of  the  Apostles  hints,  He  continues  His  work  of 
renovating  society  by  the  life  of  His  body  the  church  through  the  cen- 
turies, his  real  church  of  sincere  followers  living  His  life.  Much 
criticism  has  fallen  upon  the  Christian  church  for  its  superstition 
and  ignorance  in  the  dark  ages  and  for  its  cruelty  in  persecution, 
which  rightly  belongs  not  to  Christ  or  to  His  religion  at  all  but  to 
the  worldly  spirit  of  those  dark  and  cruel  days.  Just  so  today 
the  newspapers  say  that  "Christians  are  massacring  the  Jews  in 
Russia"  when  we  all  know  it  is  not  the  real  Christians  but  the 
non-christians  that  are  doing  the  criminal  work. 

Buckle  and  Draper  in  their  works  upon  the  intellectual  devel- 
opment of  Europe  have  often  failed  to  make  this  distinction  and 
have  attributed  to  the  Christian  church  what  really  belonged  to 
the  worldly  spirit  of  the  age  in  the  church,  and  have  failed  to  give 
due  credit  to  the  sincere  Christian  life  which  was  also  in  the 
church  not  entirely  crushed  out  by  the  usurping  world.  This 
Christian  life  has  owed  its  existence  to  the  church  and  has  found 
its  dwelling  place  in  that  church  and  has  been  the  reforming 
power  in  it.  Originating  it  in  the  first  place,  it  has  both  been 
preserved  by  it  and  has  in  turn  preserved  it,  though  worldliness 
seemed  to  have  full  possession  of  it.  This  Christian  life  has  lived 
according  to  the  principles  of  Bible  sociology,  and  its  spreading 
social  influence  is  to  be  credited  to  those  principles. 

Christianity  is  the  truth  of  Christ  manifested  in  the  life  of  true 
believers.  The  nature  and  extent  of  the  changes  Christianity  has 
wrought  in  the  world  show  its  divine  origin  and  undying  power. 
The  highest  civilization  of  the  world  today  embraces  the  nations 
of  Northern  Europe  and  the  United  States.  This  civilization  is 
called  Christian  and  there  is  good  reason  for  it.  It  is  true  we  are 
the  inheritors  of  the  civilizations  of  Greece  and  Rome.     It  is  true 


CIVILIZATION  OF  ROME  365 

also  we  have  inherited  many  vigorous  traits  of  the  younger  races 
which  overran  Greece  and  Rome.  Much  credit  must  also  be 
given  to  the  passage  of  long  centuries  in  race  development,  to  the 
enlarged  communication  with  the  world  by  the  commerce  of  ideas 
as  well  as  of  goods,  to  the  great  advance  in  the  development  of 
the  intellect  by  the  many  kinds  of  education,  to  the  multiplication 
of  the  useful  arts  in  enlarging  the  wealth  of  mankind;  and  after 
all  the  due  credit  is  given  these  elements  there  is  still  much  rea- 
son to  call  our  civilization  Christian.  After  all  allowance  is  made 
for  our  rich  inheritance  and  for  the  development  of  race  charac- 
teristics, President  Roosevelt  is  right  in  saying  "Christianity  is  so 
inwoven  with  our  social  condition  that  it  is  impossible  to  imagine 
what  the  condition  would  be  without  it".  It  is  quite  certain  no 
thinking  man  would  be  willing  to  take  out  the  Christian  element 
from  the  present,  surely  not  from  the  hope  of  the  future,  for  her 
civilization  is  characterized  not  only  by  rich  attainment  but  still 
more  by  lofty  ideals,  by  noble  ambitions.  Christianity  is  still  young 
as  the  morning,  it  is  not  yet  "weary  of  its  mighty  wings". 

While  our  plan  is  to  consider  the  sociology  of  the  Bible  mainly 
in  its  reference  to  the  present  and  the  future  and  our  limits  will 
not  permit  a  full  consideration  of  the  social  service  that  Chris- 
tianity has  rendered  the  world  from  the  time  of  Christ,  still  the 
subject  is  so  interesting  in  itself  and  so  related  to  the  future  that 
we  must  take  a  passing  glance  at  its  bold  outlines.  Buckle  claims 
that  "the  progress  Europe  has  made  from  barbarism  to  civilization 
is  entirely  due  to  intellectual  activity",  it  has  been  not  at  all  by 
moral  feelings  nor  moral  teachings  but  solely  by  the  activities  of 
the  intellect.  That  Christianity  has  given  food,  stimulus  and 
liberty  to  the  intellect  is  certainly  true,  and  Buckle  should  have 
frankly  acknowledged  it,  but  still  its  power  is  largely  in  the  moral 
and  religious  spheres.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  many  of  the 
advances  from  the  ancient  civilization  and  from  the  barbarism  of 
the  new  races  have  been  such  as  can  be  fully  accounted  for  only 
by  the  sociology  of  the  Bible,  by  the  influence  of  a  particular 
society  growing  round  the  supernatural  revelation  of  God. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  place  ourselves  back  in  the  surroundings 


366  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  Christ  and  His  disciples;  the  distance  through  time  and  space 
is  so  great  that  we  can  but  faintly  realize  only  the  broad  features 
of  the  social  condition  of  mankind  then  existing. 

The  first  prominent  feature  is  that  it  was  a  pagan  world.  Only 
the  Jews  worshiped  the  one  true  God,  all  others  were  idolaters. 
In  the  prevailing  paganism  there  was  a  dim  conception  of  a 
supreme  God  but  He  was  almost  lost  in  the  multitude  of  gods. 
Some  of  the  features  of  paganism  were  refining  and  elevating,  but 
other  essential  features  were  degrading  and  corrupting.  Pagan- 
ism never  satisfied  the  keenest  minds,  the  masses  were  grossly 
superstitious  while  the  educated  were  generally  skeptics.  Look 
now  at  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  features  of  the  social  condition 
of  man  under  this  combined  sway  of  false  religion  and  no  religion. 
It  was  the  highest  civilization  ever  reached  by  man  without  the 
Bible  revelation  and  conception  of  God.  Roman  strength  was 
clothed  with  Grecian  culture.  Both  Grecian  and  Roman  were  of 
the  noblest  blood  the  world  has  ever  known,  the  old  Aryan  race 
of  highest  intellectual  endowment.  Both  races  were  possessed  of 
many  natural  virtues.  The  Greek  had  keen  intellect,  nervous 
energy,  love  of  freedom,  taste  for  the  beautiful.  He  looked  upon 
the  world,  upon  man,  his  actions  and  thoughts  almost  entirely  upon 
the  side  of  the  beautiful.  Here  he  fell,  magnifying  the  beautiful 
above  the  good,  sensualism  led  him  down  through  elegant  volup- 
tuousness into  grossest  licentiousness;  his  virtues  became  his  vices. 
The  Roman,  too,  had  early  virtues,  manly  courage,  physical 
strength,  love  of  order,  taste  for  power.  He  looked  upon  the 
vv^orld,  upon  man,  his  actions  and  thoughts,  almost  entirely  upon 
the  side  of  power.  Here  he  fell,  magnifying  power  above  right- 
eousness, pride  and  cruelty  led  him  down  through  the  empire  of 
the  world  into  the  grossest  selfishness;  his  virtues  became  his  vices. 
At  the  time  of  Christ  Greece  was  a  Roman  province  and  had 
been  for  a  century  and  a  half ;  but  Greece  was  charming  rich  and 
powerful  Rome  by  her  culture  and  voluptuousness  into  a  licen- 
tiousness as  deep  as  her  own.  Now  as  we  look  upon  the  broad  out- 
lines of  that  boasted  civilization  we  see  how  little  human  develop- 


CIVILIZATION  OF  ROME  367 

ment  has  to  be  proud  of  in  this  its  highest  achievement  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  race. 

In  the  first  place  war  was  regarded  as  the  healthy  condition  of 
the  empire.     No  rival  civilization  could  be  endured,  the  highest 
only  awakened  the  cupidity  of  the  Roman.     Wars  of  conquest  and 
plunder  were  approved  and  unhesitatingly  and  relentlessly  pursued. 
Only  one  thing  could  awaken  greater  interest,  that  was  a  war  of 
revenge.     War  was  conducted  with  remorseless  crueltj-.     Captives 
were  either  slaughtered  or  held  as  slaves.     The  Roman  was  more 
cruel  than  the  Greek,  and  Alexander  the  Great  after  the  capture 
of  the  City  of  Tyre  ordered  two  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  to  be 
crucified,  and  the  remainder  of  the  population  were  put  to  death 
or  sold   into  slaver)^     Nearly  one  hundred  thousand  Jews  were 
sold  in  the  slave  mart  at  Rome  by  Titus  after  the  capture  of  Jeru- 
salem,  and   the  average  price  was   less   than   Judas   received    for 
betraying  the  Savior.      Even   the  leading  generals  of   the  enemy 
when  captured  were  tortured,  killed  or  enslaved.     Zenobia,  Queen 
of  Palmyra,  one  of  the  noblest  women  in  all  history,  was  brought 
to  Rome  as  his  captive  by  the  mighty  Aurelian.     The  nation  con- 
quered was  held  as  a  province  of  the  empire.     War  was  the  rule. 
Peace  was  the  exception.     The  gateway  of  Janus  in  the  city  was 
closed  when  Rome  was  at  peace  with  all  nations.     It  is  said  this 
occurred  but  four  times  in  the  history  of  the  city  extending  nearly 
a  thousand  years,  and  these  four  times  were  such  short  periods  that 
it  is  estimated  there  were  only  about  ten  years  of  peace  for  each 
century  of  war.     Rome  became  rich  by  the  plunder  of  all  nations, 
the  plunder  not  only  of  wealth  but  of  lives,  she  became  a  treasure 
house  of  jewels,  a  palace  of  slaves.     To  have  a  triumphant  entry 
into  the  city  was  the  highest  ambition  of  the  noble  Roman,   his 
army  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the  conquered  and  accompanied  by 
the  great  host  of  enslaved  captives;  that  high  civilization  gloried 
m  deeds  and  scenes  which  are  not  possible  today  in  any  Christian 
land.     War  flourished  in  paganism  and  was  nourished,  certainly 
not  checked  by  it,  for  it  was  one  way  of  pleasing  certain  gods, 
the  worship  of  the  gods  of  war  could  only  be  by  cultivating  a 
likeness  to  them,  by  the  exercise  of  warlike  qualities ;  and  also  the 


368  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

war  of  men  was  often  the  war  of  the  gods,  the  god  of  one  nation 
warring  with  his  nation  against  the  god  of  another  nation  and  his 
nation. 

A  second  prominent  feature  of  Roman  civilization  was  the 
prevalence  of  poverty.  Rome  was  immensely  rich  by  the  plunder 
of  nations  and  by  the  taxation  of  the  world.  But  it  was  the  riches 
of  the  few,  of  the  nobles  having  a  share  in  the  central  and  provin- 
cial government.  Labor  was  degraded  in  comparison  with  mili- 
tary life,  and  was  despoiled  by  a  system  of  taxation  the  like  of 
which  can  only  be  found  in  Turkey  today.  To  be  a  farmer,  a 
mechanic  or  a  merchant  was  frowned  on  by  public  opinion  and  by 
the  government  alike.  So  side  by  side  with  the  almost  incredible 
wealth  and  extravagance  of  the  nobles,  of  soldiers  and  statesmen, 
existed  a  poverty  sinking  down  into  a  pauperism  wide  spread  and 
deep  such  as  one  can  scarcely  imagine.  Roman  pride  neglected, 
disdained  and  cast  off  the  poor  and  then  grew  to  fear  and  feed 
them,  not  from  any  brotherly  love  but  contemptuously  as  one 
throws  a  bone  to  an  ugly  dog:  in  both  respects  it  cultivated  the 
pauperism  it  contemned.  Roman  emperors  frequently  kept  the 
populace  quiet  by  gifts  of  bread,  and  if  the  corn  ships  from  Egypt 
were  delayed  they  trembled  for  the  security  of  the  throne.  Under 
Augustus,  in  the  palmy  days  of  Rome,  over  two  hundred  thousand 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were  supported  the  year  round  by 
the  public  distribution  of  bread.  Under  some  of  the  other  em- 
perors it  was  still  worse,  and  at  one  time  one-third  of  the  city 
was  supported  at  the  public  expense.  The  proud  contempt  of  the 
rich  Roman  made  the  condition  of  the  poor  peculiarly  trying. 
There  was  no  charity  for  them  in  feeling  or  deed.  One  of  the 
hard  features  of  the  lot  of  the  poor  was  their  helplessness  in  sick- 
ness, they  were  left  to  themselves,  left  severely  alone  to  suffer  and 
die.  The  lack  of  sympathy  for  human  suffering  in  lowly  condi- 
tions seems  unaccountable  to  us  today.  There  were  no  such  things 
as  hospitals  for  the  sick,  asylums  for  the  insane  or  orphans, 
homes  for  the  aged  and  for  paupers.  The  helpless  were  left  by 
Greek  and  Roman  society  to  their  hard  fate.  Fortunately  for 
Rome  she  was  located  in  sunny  Italy;  under  our  snowy  northern 


CIVILIZATION  OF  ROME  369 

skies  she  could  not  have  long  existed.  The  multitude  of  clients 
who  were  supported  by  their  rich  patrons  often  fell  through  the 
spirit  into  the  reality  of  pauperism. 

Another  prominent  feature  of  that  ancient  civilization  was  the 
universality  of  slavery.  It  was  a  system  as  ancient  and  as  firmly 
rooted  as  the  seven  hilled  city  itself.  It  flourished  in  the  Grecian 
civilization  as  well.  In  Athens  when  she  was  the  glittering  splen- 
dor of  the  world  there  were  nearly  five  times  as  many  slaves  as 
there  were  citizens.  There  was  no  indication  of  any  lack  of  per- 
manency in  the  system,  no  criticism  of  it  as  wrong:  on  the  con- 
trary the  civilization  was  based  on  slavery.  The  many  must  work 
as  slaves  in  order  that  the  citizens,  the  masters,  might  have  the 
leisure  and  the  means  of  culture.  The  slaves  were  often  of  the 
same  race  blood.  The  poor  Greek  and  Roman  often  sold  them- 
selves as  slaves  for  mere  subsistence.  The  poor  also  frequently 
sold  their  children  into  slavery,  and  the  many  exposed  and  deserted 
children  of  the  rich  were  held  as  slaves.  Besides  captives  taken  in 
war  constantly  increased  the  number  of  slaves.  Paullus  brought 
at  one  time  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  slaves  to  the  city. 
The  number  of  slaves  was  immense.  Gibbon  says  that  in  the  time 
of  Claudius  the  slave  population  of  the  empire  equalled  the  free, 
there  were  sixty  millions  of  each.  The  conditions  of  the  slaves 
was  most  degraded.  The  proud  and  cruel  Roman  was  a  bad 
slave  master,  and  the  laws  gave  the  slave  almost  entirely  into  his 
hands.  With  awful  prodigality  of  life  the  slaves  built  the  temples 
and  palaces  whose  ruins  still  charm  mankind. 

There  are  three  prominent  features  of  the  home  life  of  the 
Roman  that  arrest  the  most  rapid  glance  over  the  civilization  of 
that  distant  day  and  land. 

The  first  is  the  position  of  woman.  The  spirit  of  the  laws  for- 
bade the  independence  of  woman.  The  father,  after  his  death, 
the  son  who  happened  to  be  the  head  of  the  family,  had  her  under 
his  full  control.  After  her  marriage  the  husband  was  the  master 
of  her  person,  property  and  even  life.  This  habitual  and  con- 
temptuous distrust  of  woman  had  its  two  extremes  of  strictness 
and  laxness  upon  the  marriage  relation.     In  the  early  days  the 


370  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

marriage  tie  was  strictly  kept,  the  tradition  is  that  it  was  not  dis- 
solved in  a  single  instance  for  one  hundred  and  seventy  years  of 
the  city's  history.  The  history  of  its  later  and  luxurious  life  is 
one  of  growing  laxness.  Divorce  was  easy,  either  husband  or  wife 
could  give  a  writing  to  the  effect  and  the  tie  was  dissolved.  The 
satirists  tell  us  that  women  told  their  ages  not  by  the  number  of 
their  years,  but  by  the  number  of  their  divorces.  The  sanctity  of 
the  marriage  tie  being  destroyed  sensuality  swept  woman  into 
utmost  and  unspeakable  degradation.  The  slave  women  in  the 
palaces  of  the  rich  often  lived  in  moral  debasement  as  the  vivid 
description  of  Roman  palace  life  in  "Quo  Vadis"  shows  us,  and 
as  slavery  in  its  nature  degrades  both  sexes. 

The  second  striking  feature  of  the  home  life  seems  to  us  almost 
incredible,  the  cruel  indifference  to  children,  which  was  permitted 
by  the  laws,  sanctioned  by  public  opinion  and  frequently  found 
in  practice.  The  father  being  the  magistrate  of  the  family  had  the 
right  to  accept  or  reject  his  child,  or  one  born  in  his  family.  First- 
born sons,  and  generally  strong  and  healthy  boys  were  welcome; 
but  sickly  children,  especially  girls  could  be  and  frequently  were 
rejected  even  by  the  noblest  and  best  citizens.  Such  rejected 
children  were  exposed  in  public  places  to  whatever  might  befall 
them,  often  to  death,  generally  to  slavery,  for  whoever  took  the 
exposed  child  held  it  as  a  slave,  and  took  the  risk  of  making 
something  out  of  it,  the  risk  frequently  resulted  in  the  delayed 
death  of  the  child.  The  abandonment  of  a  sickly  babe  along  the 
highway  by  parents  of  good  standing  is  not  conceivable  today. 
That  high  civilization  thought  such  a  child  would  be  of  no  use  to 
the  state,  and  luxury  among  the  rich  had  eaten  into  and  in  many 
cases  almost  destroyed  the  strongest  of  the  natural  affections.  Deep 
misery  among  the  poor  and  the  contaminating  influence  of  the 
rich  and  noble,  wrought  the  same  effect,  so  the  poor  often  sold 
or  abandoned  their  children,  even  the  healthy  boys,  to  slavery. 
There  were  no  schools  for  the  children  of  the  common  people  and 
slaves  in  Rome.  There  were  private  teachers  for  the  rich  but  no 
such  thing  as  a  college,  even  for  the  rich  or  well  to  do.  There 
was  a  great  mass  of  illiteracy  in  the  Roman  populace  and  no  public 


CIVILIZATION  OF  ROME  371 

spirit  to  remove  it.  The  pagan  religion  did  not  support  schools 
at  all.  The  state  made  no  provision  for  the  education  of  all  classes 
or  for  any  class  of  its  children.  That  civilization  v^^as  entirely 
without  anything  remotely  resembling  our  public  schools  or  our 
religious  schools.     It  paid  no  attention  to  children. 

The  third  striking  feature  of  home  life  vv^as  connected  w^ith 
slavery.  The  homes  of  the  rich  were  filled  with  slaves,  and  lux- 
urious cruelty  and  licentiousness  abounded.  The  home  of  the  rich 
abounded  in  slaves,  was  the  scene  of  woman's  degradation  and 
childhood's  neglect.  In  the  homes  of  the  poor  the  most  abject 
poverty  took  the  place  of  slavery,  and  made  the  condition  of  women 
and  children  worse  rather  than  better. 

It  only  remains  to  glance  at  the  amusements  of  the  people. 
Licentiousness  and  cruelty  here  revelled.  The  most  licentious 
plays  in  the  theatres  were  thronged  not  only  by  the  masses,  but  by 
the  refined  and  noble.  Cruelty  must  have  culminated  in  the  spec- 
tacle given  by  Trajan  when  for  four  months  ten  thousand  gladi- 
ators shed  their  blood  in  the  arena  to  the  fierce  joy  of  the  rich 
and  poor  alike. 

These  are  the  main  features  of  the  social  condition  of  Roman  civi- 
lization. It  is  to  the  credit  of  humanity  that  there  are  so  many 
lofty  lives  of  great  virtue  standing  in  shining  white  against  this 
dark  background.  Some  stand  aloof  in  proud  and  silent  con- 
tempt. Others  try  to  drive  back  the  rising  tide  of  corruption. 
There  were  also  systems  of  philosophy  teaching  comparatively 
pure  morals,  and  many  earnest  philosophers;  but  singing  birds 
could  as  easily  stop  the  rush  of  a  tornado  as  for  philosophy  to 
quiet  the  raging  lusts  of  man.  All  honor  be  given  to  these  shin- 
ing lives  and  teachings,  their  effort  was  splendid  though  vain. 

Into  this  corrupt  pagan  world  there  entered  at  the  time  of  Christ 
a  society  grouped  around  Him.  It  was  the  particular  society  of 
the  Bible  gathered  about  a  supernatural  revelation  and  conception 
of  God.  This  society  was  not  large  in  numbers,  nor  strong  in 
learning,  wealth  or  influence,  the  only  power  it  possessed  was  in 
its  distinctive  nature  as  gathered  about  Christ,  the  culmination  of 
the  supernatural  revelation  of  God.     He  was  the  supreme  object 


372  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  their  affection.  His  teaching  was  with  authority.  His  pres- 
ence and  grace  were  recognized  as  being  always  with  them.  Here 
there  was  a  society  of  pure  morals  supported  by  supernatural  sanc- 
tions and  centering  in  the  most  loving  devotion  to  a  Divine  Per- 
son. The  influence  of  this  particular  society  upon  the  general 
society  was  of  course  slow  but  it  was  progressive,  a  steadily 
spreading  and  increasing  force.  The  changes  that  have  been 
wrought  upon  the  prominent  traits  of  the  world's  social  condition 
are  in  line  with  this  spreading  force;  and  its  nature  and  strength 
are  sufficient  to  account  for  them. 

It  was  a  pagan  world.  This  particular  society  believed  in 
Christ  as  the  revelation  of  the  one  true  Grod,  righteous  and  mer- 
ciful. God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  His  life  was  a  divine  revelation 
of  love  and  self-sacrifice,  of  a  God  seeking  the  highest  welfare  of 
mankind.  Selfish  gods,  cruel  lustful  gods,  limited  and  conflict- 
ing gods,  passed  from  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  before  the  one 
true  God  worthy  of  the  highest  thought  and  affection  of  man. 

War  prevailed.  This  Divine  Being  taught  that  God  was  the 
Father  of  the  race,  that  all  men  were  brothers  and  should  love 
and  help,  not  hate  and  slay  each  other,  those  believing  Him 
obeyed  Him  and  their  lives  worked  peace.  Under  such  teaching 
and  lives  war  must  cease,  not  at  once  but  as  the  influence  prevails. 
It  has  not  yet  entirely  ceased  but  it  is  no  longer  the  normal  condi- 
tion, it  is  not  the  rule  but  the  exception.  Our  own  United  States 
is  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  old.  Since  the  Revolution 
we  have  had  only  four  great  wars,  their  combined  length  was  not 
over  ten  years.  We  have  had  twelve  years  of  peace  for  every  year 
of  war.  Rome  had  twelve  years  of  war  for  every  year  of  peace. 
The  horrors  of  war  have  also  been  greatly  mitigated.  The  smoke 
of  battle  lifts  and  the  flag  with  the  red  cross  that  knows  neither 
friend  nor  foe  hastens  to  succor  the  wounded:  prisoners  are 
treated  with  kindness  and  life-long  slavery  is  unknown.  Contrast 
the  conduct  of  Titus  toward  the  conquered  Jews  with  Gen. 
Grant's  treatment  of  the  defeated  Confederate  army.  Besides  pub- 
lic opinion  is  growing  to  demand  arbitration.  Within  a  quarter 
of   a  century   many   international  questions   that   in   the   days   of 


CIVILIZATION  OF  ROME  373 

Rome  would  have  caused  war  have  been  settled  by  arbitration,  and 
the  Peace  Court  of  the  Hague  gives  hope  for  the  large  disarma- 
ment of  Christian   nations. 

Poverty  prevailed.     This  Divine  Being  lived  and  died  a  poor 
man.     He  proclaimed  his  mission  was  to  the  poor.     In  describing 
the  last  judgment  He  determines  destiny  not  by  rank  or  worldly 
wealth  but  by  character,  and  the  standard  of  character  is  the  con- 
sideration of  the  needy,  the  love  that  sees  the  person  rather  than 
the  condition.    At  the  same  time  Christ  by  His  example  and  teach- 
ing and  in  selecting  His  disciples  and  in  their  lives  taught  the  dig- 
nity of  labor.    His  charity,  and  the  charity  of  His  society  is  coming 
ever  closer  to  Him,  never  fostered  pauperism  but  industry  and 
manly  independence,  the  doing  away  of  poverty  by  giving  every 
man  just  dealings  and  loving  incentive.    In  Christian  lands  poverty 
is  still  present,  but  it  is  no  longer  fostered  as  it  was  in  Rome.   The 
problem  still  confronts  us,  but  Christianity  has  already  relieved 
much  of  its  darkness.     The  sympathy  of  whole  communities  is 
enlisted   by   the  sickness  of   the  poor,   and   institutions   for   their 
benefit  unknown  in  that  ancient  civilization  flourish  in  town  and 
city,— the  hospital  for  the  injured,  the  sick  and  the  insane,  the  dis- 
pensary for  the  poor  and  homes  for  orphans,  the  aged  and  paupers. 
There  is  still  a  "submerged  tenth"  in  London  and  New  York,  but 
it  is  not  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  whole,  nor  is  it  so  deeply 
submerged  as  in  ancient  Rome. 

Slavery  was  universal.  This  Divine  Being  has  been  criticised  for 
not  saying  a  word  against  slavery.  He  did  something  far  better, 
He  counted  the  slave  as  His  brother,  and  taught  His  followers  the 
same,  and  the  system  melted  away  in  the  atmosphere  of  Divine 
love.  An  iceberg  a  mile  long  and  hundreds  of  feet  high  may  bar 
the  way  of  humanity  across  the  sea.  Try  to  overturn  it,  there  is 
a  larger  mass  beneath  the  waves  than  above  them.  Fire  cannon 
balls  into  it.  Run  the  steamship  against  it,  the  ship  will  be 
destroyed.  The  plan  of  nature  is  to  float  it  into  summer  seas  and 
it  soon  melts  away.  So  slavery  melted  away  when  floated  into 
the  summer  sea  of  Christ's  love  for  all  mankind  as  His  brothers. 
The  home  life  was  degraded.    This  Divine  Being  blesses  moth- 


374  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

erhood  and  childhood.  Children  were  neglected,  even  abandoned. 
Then  came  this  Divine  Being,  born  a  babe.  Angelic  hosts  sing 
the  praises  of  a  child.  The  wise  men  bring  costly  oblations  to 
the  feet  of  a  child.  This  Divine  Being  when  held  in  highest 
adoration,  takes  little  children  in  His  arms  and  instructs  His  dis- 
ciples of  their  intrinsic  worth,  that  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Woman  is  distrusted  and  degraded.  This  Divine  Being 
provides  for  His  mother  when  enduring  the  agony  of  the  cross. 
He  through  His  life  lifted  fallen  woman  to  pure  devotion  to  the 
good.  He  counted  pure  women  among  His  best  friends.  His 
church  is  likened  to  a  woman,  the  radiant  Bride  of  Christ.  So 
from  Him  the  change  goes  on  as  His  followers  increase  in  numbers 
and  in  His  spirit  until  today  our  Christian  American  home  is  as 
heaven  compared  with  the  best  Roman  home.  There  were  no 
schools  for  the  children  of  any  class  in  Rome.  Now  not  only  the 
church  but  the  state  provides  schools  for  all  children. 

Cruel  and  licentious  amusements  shrink  abashed  from  this 
Divine  Being  of  loftiest  personal  purity  and  deepest  self-sacrificing 
love.  And  He  demanded  of  His  followers  likeness  unto  Himself. 
The  stage  in  Christian  lands  has  not  yet  reached  its  own  ideals, 
but  it  aims  to  afford  recreation  stimulating  to  the  intellect  and 
uplifting  in  moral  and  spiritual  nature;  to  this  it  is  held  by  its 
greatest  actors  and  by  its  best  dramatic  critics  and  this  too  is 
becoming  the  demand  of  public  opinion. 

Thus  these  prominent  features  of  that  ancient  civilization  were 
directly  opposed  by  Christianity  and  were  gradually  changed  by 
its  growing  influence.  At  the  same  time  Christianity  has  not  pre- 
vented but  has  aided  us  in  preserving  and  inheriting  many  of  the 
choice  attainments  of  both  Greece  and  Rome.  In  the  barbarism 
of  the  dark  ages  Christianity  preserved  much  of  the  rich  litera- 
ture of  those  cultured  lands,  the  record  of  heroic  deeds  and  great 
achievements,  the  inspiring  poetry,  lofty  philosophy,  noble  oratory, 
of  the  world's  great  minds.  Not  only  have  we  the  rich  legacy  of 
thoughts  written  in  books  but  those  carved  in  stone  as  well ;  and 
also  those  grown  into  the  fabric  of  society.  The  world  could  not 
afford  to  lose  the  body  of  Roman  law  gathered  in  the  institutes  of 


CIVILIZATION  OF  ROME  375 

Justinian,  but  we  remember  he  was  a  Christian  emperor  reigning 
nearly  six  hundred  years  after  Christ,  and  the  code  made  by  his 
direction  was  of  the  Roman  law  when  it  was  already  largely  puri- 
fied and  humanized  by  Christianity. 

We  are  the  successors  in  the  world's  histor)'  of  that  ancient  civil- 
ization, we  are  possessed  of  much  of  its  rich  achievements  while  we 
have  discarded  many  of  its  evil  features.  We  no  more  grovel  in 
paganism,  we  no  more  count  warfare  the  highest  employment  of 
man,  we  do  not  at  once  cultivate  and  contemn  pauperism,  we  do 
not  foster  and  approve  slavery,  we  do  not  degrade  woman,  scorn 
children,  revel  in  cruelty  and  licentiousness.  Christianity  has 
taught  us  better  and  inspired  us  to  nobler  living.  Vice  still  exists 
in  Christian  lands  but  it  exists  without  repute.  Christianity  has 
not  yet  banished  iniquity  from  the  earth  but  it  has  that  high 
ambition,  and  it  has  already  branded  vice  in  whatever  station  with 
the  indelible  mark  of  disgrace  and  made  it  skulk  in  shame  from  the 
indignant  gaze  of  mankind.  Cruelty  and  licentiousness  still  exist 
but  they  are  no  longer  crowned  and  enthroned  in  the  daylight, 
they  are  felons  hiding  themselves  in  the  night. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

Christianity  in  the  Advance  of  Civilization  From  Our 
Barbarian    Ancestors. 

In  trjang  to  estimate  aright  the  service  the  church  has  rendered 
human  society,  that  is  the  service  Christianity  has  rendered  the 
race,  we  must  consider  also  the  changes  wrought  upon  our  ances- 
tors the  new  races  which  overran  the  Roman  empire.  At  the  time 
of  Christ  our  ancestors  lived  in  the  central  and  northeastern  parts 
of  Europe.  They  were  the  later  emigrants  of  the  Aryan  family 
having  its  native  home  in  Central  Asia,  whose  earlier  emigrants 
became  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  The  earlier  emigrants  settling 
on  the  sunny  and  fertile  slopes  of  the  Mediterranean  formed  the 
civilization  we  have  just  considered.  Our  ancestors  having  the 
same  race  traits  settled  in  far  different  surroundings,  in  the  forests 
and  along  the  stormy  seas  and  in  the  bitter  cold  of  the  northland. 
They  were  a  vigorous  and  intellectual  race  but  they  were  bar- 
barians, the  rudest  and  most  savage  of  which  we  have  any  knowl- 
edge. The  class  of  virtues  they  possessed  was  the  warlike, — cour- 
age, endurance,  fidelity,  indifference  to  death  to  attain  their  pur- 
pose. Having  these  warlike  virtues  their  life  was  almost  a  contin- 
ual conflict,  the  most  cruel  and  savage  with  hardly  a  shade  of 
mercy.  This  character  and  life  gave  rise  to  their  religion  and  this 
in  its  turn  fostered  that  character.  They  were  not  fetich  worship- 
ers; their  gods  were  not  stocks  and  stones,  but  rather  the  grand 
features  of  nature  personified.  The  conflict  thej''  witnessed  in  the 
winter's  storms  on  sea  and  in  forest  was  the  tame  reflection  of  the 
real  conflict  of  their  gods  with  each  other  and  with  giant  evils. 
Odin  from  the  remains  of  a  giant  he  conquered  constructed  our 
world,  he  presided  over  inferior  deities  by  virtue  of  his  superior 


OUR  BARBARIAN  ANCESTORS  377 

strength:  our  Wednesday  keeps  his  memory  green  throughout  our 
race.  Even  the  heaven  of  our  ancestors  cultivated  their  savage 
warlike  qualities.  Valhalla  the  great  hall  of  Odin  vi^as  the  scene 
of  feasting  and  drinking.  No  one  could  enter  who  had  died  a 
peaceful  death,  to  die  on  the  battlefield  was  the  only  gateway  to 
Odin's  feasting  hall.  When  Odin  and  his  warriors  had  feasted 
to  the  full  they  went  out  into  the  court  and  engaged  in  combat, 
many  being  slain,  only  to  rise  again  to  feast  and  fight.  These 
savage  barbarians  overthrew  the  Roman  empire  not  on  account  of 
their  virtues  but  because  of  its  inherent  weakness,  the  weakness  of 
a  corrupt  civilization,  and  because  of  their  overwhelming  numbers 
as  wave  after  wave  they  flooded  the  land. 

The  danger,  the  probability  was  that  the  resulting  condition 
would  be  one  of  dense  barbarism  taking  upon  itself  the  vices  of 
the  overthrown  civilization.  From  this  there  would  slowly  arise 
another  civilization.  The  settled  condition  of  tilling  the  soil,  the 
combined  life  in  cities,  the  growing  traffic  on  land  and  sea,  the 
increasing  wealth  and  other  causes  would  foster  this  growth.  But 
the  civilization  thus  arising  would  have  been  like  that  of  the 
Roman,  cruel  and  licentious,  worse  rather  than  better  judging 
from  the  nature  of  the  new  races  and  from  the  influences  of  the 
old  civilization. 

The  one  influence  to  change  the  direction  of  this  new  civilization 
was  Christianity.  A  remarkable  thing  happened,  the  conquerors 
embraced  the  religion  of  the  conquered.  It  must  have  been  due 
largely  to  the  peculiar  appeal  made  by  the  new  religion  to  the  vig- 
orous, intellectually  gifted  new  races.  Still  the  pure  religion  of 
Christ  was  already  greatly  corrupted  by  a  worldly  spirit,  It  had 
entered  upon  Greek  disputations,  it  had  grasped  Roman  power. 
The  creeds  of  councils  and  the  growth  of  Papal  dominion  were 
already  overshadowing  the  Christian  life. 

The  conquerors  embraced  this  religion  largely  in  a  formal  way, 
satisfying  themselves  with  a  nominal  acceptance  of  creeds  and  with 
the  growing  ceremonies  of  worship.  Still  many  humble  lives  and 
not  a  few  noble  ones  possessed  the  truth  in  Christ.  They  owned 
Him  as  their  Lord,  the  revelation  of  the  one  true  God,  righteous, 


378  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

merciful,  loving,  they  obeyed  His  commands,  they  were  conscious 
of  His  presence;  they  continued  the  particular  society  of  the 
Bible.  Their  growing  and  prevailing  influence  wrought  a  change, 
gradual  but  ever  uplifting  in  the  growth  of  the  civilization  of  our 
barbarian  ancestors. 

We  may  trace  this  change  in  their  three  prominent  characteris- 
tics and  may  see  how  the  peculiar  elements  of  Bible  sociolog}' 
were  adapted  and  powerful  enough  to  bring  it  about. 

The  first  is,  their  taste  for  conflict.  This  after  it  had  gratified 
itself  in  the  succeeding  incursions  and  the  complete  conquest  of  the 
Empire,  flamed  out  in  private  war.  The  invading  chieftain  became 
a  baronial  lord,  living  in  his  fortified  house  or  castle,  surrounded 
by  many  retainers,  his  feudal  tenants,  he  quickly  resented  any  injury 
or  slight  a  neighboring  baron  might  give  him,  and  nourished  a 
grudge  or  feud  into  savage  warfare.  Chivalry,  the  institution  of 
the  Middle  Ages  so  much  admired  in  story  and  which  has  left 
lofty  ideals  to  the  present  day,  seems  to  have  been  this  race  ten- 
dency to  conflict  wedded  to  Christianity,  an  attempt  to  Christian- 
ize warfare,  a  perhaps  needed  transition  to  the  present  age  of 
peace.  The  making  of  a  knight  shows  that  religion  was  an  essen- 
tial element  in  chivalry.  The  candidate  was  after  long  training 
brought  to  the  day  of  his  knighthood.  He  spent  the  night  in 
prayer  in  the  chapel  of  the  castle.  In  the  morning  he  confessed 
his  sins,  he  was  then  clothed  in  a  white  robe  representing  purity, 
over  this  was  a  red  robe  representing  the  blood  shed  for  him  on  the 
cross  and  the  blood  he  was  to  shed  for  the  faith.  He  was  then 
armed  by  the  noble  knights,  was  led  through  the  glittering  throng 
of  noble  men  and  fair  women  to  the  throne  of  the  king.  He  took 
the  vow  to  defend  the  faith,  to  honor  woman,  to  rescue  the  dis- 
tressed, to  be  true,  valiant,  courteous,  and  the  king  with  the  touch 
of  his  sword  made  him  a  knight.  Race  tendencies  are  strong: 
so  are  the  social  ties  wrought  by  Jesus  Christ.  Private  war  must 
give  way  though  it  may  be  slowly  when  the  Divine  Being  acknowl- 
edged as  Lord  commands — "If  thy  brother  sin  against  thee  go 
and  tell  him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone,  if  he  hear 
thee  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother":  to  gain  rather  than  to  slay  the 


OUR  BARBARIAN  ANCESTORS  379 

brother  becomes  the  stronger  propensity.  The  story  of  the  Chap- 
lain and  the  Baron  may  be  a  fiction  but  it  is  a  picture  of  the  times. 
The  Baron  was  bent  on  a  war  with  his  neighbor.  The  Chap- 
lain tried  in  vain  to  dissuade  him  from  it.  As  a  last  effort  he 
induced  him  to  go  to  the  chapel  and  before  the  altar  to  repeat  with 
him,  clause  by  clause,  the  Lord's  Prayer.  At  the  petition  'Tor- 
give  us  our  debts  as  we  forgive  our  debtors"  the  Baron  was  at  last 
won  from  cruel  war  to  peace.  The  strong  qualities  which  flamed 
forth  in  warfare,  the  courage,  the  endurance,  the  perseverance  of 
the  new  races  have  not  been  destroyed  but  have  been  given  a  nobler 
direction  by  Christianity,  to  subdue  the  earth  and  to  serve  man- 
kind. 

A  second  characteristic  of  our  barbarian  ancestry  was  their 
cruel  disregard  for  human  life.  They  found  slavery  prevailing  in 
Rome;  theirs  not  to  check  it  in  any  way  but  to  add  to  its  rigor. 
To  be  a  serf  of  the  land  in  the  dark  ages  was  equally  a  defense- 
less condition  with  the  slave  in  the  Roman  palace.  The  Roman 
law  in  the  administration  of  justice  permitted  the  torture  of 
slaves,  the  new  races  inherited  the  practice  and  added  many  ele- 
ments of  cruelty  in  its  administration  to  all  classes  of  men  and 
for  all  offenses,  and  the  corrupt  church  made  dreadful  use  of  it. 
The  disregard  of  life  led  wreckers  along  the  coast  of  stormy  seas 
to  decoy  the  tempest  driven  ship  by  false  lights  to  its  destruction 
for  the  plunder  it  might  provide.  As  national  life  began  to  be 
marked  by  distinct  boundaries  and  by  different  languages  each 
nation  regarded  all  other  races  as  enemies  to  be  preyed  upon, 
without  arousing  a  sense  of  wrong.  But  the  growing  society  of 
the  Bible,  the  sincere  followers  of  Christ  in  their  treatment  of 
each  other  and  of  their  fellows,  humanized  mankind.  He  taught 
the  worth  of  the  individual  man.  He  dignified  the  person  of  man, 
showed  it  was  the  noblest  thing  on  earth.  He  treated  the  poorest, 
weakest,  most  defenseless  as  His  brother,  as  His  sister.  His  fol- 
lowers became  conscious  of  their  inherent  worth,  the  worth  of 
manliness,  of  womanliness,  became  self-respectful,  and  respectful 
of  others,  and  slowly  slavery,  torture,  cruelty  were  frowned  upon. 


38o  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

It  was  recognized  that  each  soul  was  responsible  to  God  and  of 
great  value  in  His  estimation. 

The  third  characteristic  of  our  ancestors  was  toward  intellectual 
development.  They  were  of  the  intellectual  Aryan  stock,  the 
brothers  of  the  Greek  and  the  Roman.  They,  as  their  brothers, 
had  dwelt  under  the  shadows  of  many  debasing  superstitions,  the 
paganism  that  clouded  their  minds  led  to  the  warfare,  the  sla- 
very, the  many  degradations  of  sensual  life.  When  they  became 
the  successors  of  the  literature  and  the  arts,  the  achievements  and 
attainments  of  the  Mediterranean  civilization  the  many  gods  and 
the  debasing  beliefs  and  practices  of  their  worship  were  being 
removed  by  the  revelation  and  conception  of  the  one  true  God 
found  in  the  Bible,  and  by  the  society  gathered  about  Him.  They 
started  therefore  on  the  intellectual  development  which  has  been 
so  generally  diffused,  so  marvelous  in  its  attainments,  and  which 
is  still  going  on  with  increasing  force,  they  started  with  the  inher- 
itance of  the  old  civilization  not  only  but  with  the  freedom  from 
debasing  superstitions,  Christianity  had  wrought  in  it.  The  new 
races  settling  in  the  rich  lands  of  Europe,  and  with  their  rich 
inheritance  were  still  in  the  vigor  of  youth  when  the  shadows  and 
the  chains  were  taken  from  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men,  and  the 
developing  of  the  mind  then  begun  is  still  going  on  and  is  bringing 
to  mankind  large  knowledge  and  power  over  the  forces  of  nature. 

Our  civilization  like  all  other  is  based  upon  slavery,  but  it  is 
not  the  slaver\'  of  man  but  of  nature.  Our  steam  power  and 
electrical  power  do  the  work  for  us  of  a  billion  of  slaves  that  the 
whole  race  may  have  the  time  and  strength  for  mental  and  social 
culture ;  and  the  whole  race  relieved  from  debasing  superstition 
is  beginning  to  use  this  vast  power  in  the  helpful  spirit,  the  spirit 
of  brotherhood.  It's  in  such  an  age  that  the  church  which  has 
done  so  much  unconsciously  is  becoming  conscious  of  her  high 
calling  as  a  social  force.  The  greatest  work  of  Christ  is  Chris- 
tianity, not  long  ago  alone  and  afar  off,  but  now  and  here.  There 
must  always  be  due  proportion  between  means  and  ends,  between 
cause  and  effect,  instrument  and  result.  We  cannot  drive  back 
the  night  from  a  broad  continent  by  striking  a  match  in  a  valley, 


OUR  BARBARIAN  ANCESTORS  381 

we  must  have  the  sun  rise  on  the  mountain  ranges.  To  change  the 
traits  of  races  of  mankind  and  the  customs  of  ages  requires  a  most 
powerful  and  constant  force  through  long  periods  of  time.  As  we 
look  at  the  pathway  of  light  across  the  dark  continent  of  the 
world's  history  we  know  it  comes  from  the  rising  sun,  and  gives 
promise  of  a  long  and  glorious  day. 

"The  year's   at   the  spring 
"The  day's  at  the  morn". 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Christianity  a  Social  Force  in  Foreign  Missions. 

While  our  subject  according  to  our  plan  of  treatment  must  deal 
mainly  with  the  social  force  of  Christianiy  in  its  further  influence 
upon  the  civilization  of  our  own  and  other  Christian  lands,  still 
the  grandeur  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  church  in  heathen 
lands  demands  more  than  a  passing  glance.  The  church  as  a 
social  force  must  be  stimulated  to  the  enthusiasm  of  service  of 
mankind  by  her  call  to  "make  disciples  of  all  the  nations".  The 
view  we  have  just  taken  of  the  influence  of  Christianity  in  uplift- 
ing society,  shows  that  the  missionary  work  of  the  church  in  the 
past  has  been  largely,  though  unconsciously,  sociological.  She  is 
beginning  to  see  now  the  grandeur  of  her  Lord's  design  and  to 
recognize  that  her  missionary  work  in  the  future  must  be  inten- 
tionally sociological.  She  is  to  form  well  considered  plans  and 
persistently  carry  them  out  for  the  renewing  of  heathen  society. 
We  must  not  confine  our  estimate  of  the  value  of  missionary  work 
to  the  saving  of  single  souls.  That  is  noble,  but  not  by  any 
means  all,  not  even  the  larger  part,  in  fact  it  is  but  a  small  though 
necessary  part  of  the  grand  result. 

We  see  the  importance  of  the  salvation  of  a  single  soul  in 
Christ's  estimation:  listen  to  His  teaching  of  single  souls,  of  Nico- 
demus,  of  the  woman  at  the  well:  watch  the  souls  coming  out  of 
sin  under  His  influence,  the  publican  Matthew,  the  harlot  Man,- 
Magdalene,  the  selfish  conceited  man,  Peter,  the  prosperous  up- 
right business  man,  John.  But  shall  this  bound  our  vision?  Did 
it  bound  Christ's  vision  ?  Such  souls  at  once  were  brought  into  a 
new  fellowship  with  kindred  souls,  and  had  new  social  ties  with 
all  other  souls.  They  formed  the  society  about  Christ.  More, 
these  lives  went  out  of  this  world  after  a  few  years  to  heaven,  but 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS  383 

they  left  the  h'ght  shining  in  other  hves,  the  spreading  light  in  so- 
ciety, the  continuing  light  and  life  more  widely  spreading  in  suc- 
cessive generations.  The  vision  of  our  blessed  Lord,  did  it  end 
with  Peter?  Did  it  not  include  us  in  our  day?  Does  it  not  take 
in  the  generations  succeeding  us  to  the  end  of  time?  Money  spent, 
lives  lost  in  foreign  missions,  a  single  soul  saved.  Is  it  worth  it? 
Yes,  who  can  estimate  the  value  of  a  soul?  But  that  is  but  a 
small  part  of  the  result.  To  save  a  soul  in  India  today  is  like 
Christ  saving  a  soul  in  Judea  twenty  centuries  ago.  The  soul 
precious  beyond  price  is  saved;  also  through  that  soul  countless 
generations  of  souls  are  saved.  Augustin  brought  the  Gospel  to 
England,  Wildebrord  to  Holland,  Boniface  to  Germany:  they 
were  the  means  of  saving  here  and  there  one  soul  of  the  multitude 
of  pagans.  Is  that  all  ?  That  was  but  a  small  part  of  the  result, 
a  necessary  part,  but  to  estimate  their  work  aright  we  must  con- 
sider the  present  and  prospective  civilization  of  northern  Europe 
and  America,  and  what  they  may  still  do  for  the  whole  world. 

If  Christianity  has  had  a  large  influence  in  lifting  the  portion 
of  the  race  she  has  reached  from  a  corrupt  civilization  and  a  savage 
barbarism,  then  the  barbarism  still  remaining  in  the  earth  as  in 
Africa,  and  the  semi-civilization  of  the  best  heathen  lands  as  in 
Asia,  alike  call  upon  the  church  and  Christian  nations  for  Chris- 
tianity, the  only  agency  that  can  give  a  moral  and  spiritual  uplift 
to  succeeding  generations.  The  light  from  the  sun  it  is  said  comes 
through  ether  without  lighting  it  up,  it  may  be  called  the  dark 
pathway  of  light,  only  when  it  strikes  an  object,  as  the  earth,  does 
the  light  become  light.  Not  so  the  beams  of  light  from  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  their  whole  pathway  through  the  generations  has 
been  a  shining  one  and  they  now  shine  on  us.  Not  a  narrow  rib- 
bon of  light  straight  from  Christ  to  us,  but  a  spreading  light  ever 
wider  and  wider  in  each  generation.  Ours  is  a  Christian  land, 
though  of  its  eighty  millions  only  thirty  millions  are  the  professed 
followers  of  Christ,  the  whole  society  is  largely  pervaded  with 
Christian  ideas  and  practices.  The  church  as  a  social  force  has 
caught  at  last  the  vision  of  her  Lord  that  her  missionary  work  is 


384  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

to  save  souls,  successive  generations  of  souls,  to  save  society 
through  the  coming  ages. 

The  grandeur  of  this  conception  of  foreign  missions  is  directly 
from  Christ  Himself.  We  may  have  thought  that  missionary 
work  originated  in  the  last  command  of  Christ,  "Go  ye  therefore 
and  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations".  This  command  however 
was  only  crystalizing  the  whole  mission  and  spirit  of  our  Lord, 
only  voicing  the  conception  which  from  the  beginning  is  found  in 
His  teaching.  Christ  claimed  to  found  a  society  in  the  nature  of  a 
kingdom  of  which  He  was  King.  The  outward  organization  was 
only  the  expression  of  its  inner  life.  His  throne  was  to  be  set 
up  not  in  any  particular  country,  but  in  the  heart  of  man  wherever 
found.  The  laws  of  the  kingdom  are  found  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  Matt.  5-8.  The  method  of  its  establishment  is  described 
in  His  charge  to  the  apostles.  Matt.  10.  The  providential  devel- 
opment of  the  kingdom  is  described  in  the  parables  found  in  Matt. 
13.  The  institution  of  self-government  of  the  kingdom  is  set 
forth  by  the  King  Himself  in  Matt.  18.  The  source  of  its  power 
he  discloses  in  his  discourse  at  the  last  supper,  John  14-16.  He  in- 
stitutes two  simple  rites  to  distinguish  this  society  from  the  world 
and  prescribes  their  continuance  to  the  end  of  time.  Then  the 
whole  crystalizes  in  His  last  command  "to  make  disciples  of  all 
nations".  The  whole  conception  so  familiar  to  us,  came  forth 
complete  from  the  lips  of  Christ.  It  is  original,  it  is  bold,  there 
is  nothing  experimental  about  it,  no  provision  is  made  for  correc- 
tion, for  any  change,  for  a  possible  failure.  And  it  is  absolutely 
without  bounds,  without  any  limits.  It  is  for  man  wherever 
found.  A  kingdom  based  on  truth,  righteousness,  love,  the  partic- 
ular society  of  the  Bible  to  take  possession  of  the  general  societv 
of  the  whole  earth. 

Consider  the  two  familiar  sayings  frequently  on  the  lips  ot 
Christ,  one  of  Himself  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world",  the  other  of 
His  disciples  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world".  It  does  not  require 
much  courage  to  use  them  today,  in  the  light  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion which  owes  so  much  to  Christ.  But  it  was  a  brave  thing  for 
Christ  to  say  of  Himself  and  of  His  disciples  at  first.     What 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS  385 

more  absurdly  improbable?  The  large  number  listening  to  Him 
on  the  Galilean  hillside  are  merely  curious,  the  inner  circle  of 
earnest  learners  is  very  small.  Here  on  the  outside  of  the  crowd 
of  curious  ones  is  a  learned  man  from  Jerusalem;  we  ask  him 
"What  do  you  think  of  this  saying  of  Christ"?  His  reply  is 
ready,  "I  admire  His  beautiful  sentiments,  but  in  saying  this  he 
shows  he  is  a  mere  provincial,  he  knows  nothing  of  the  great  teach- 
ers and  schools  of  Jerusalem.".  Here  are  two  men  evidently  inter- 
ested in  the  strange  scene,  a  proud  Roman,  an  officer  of  the  army 
of  occupation,  is  talking  with  a  learned  Greek,  who  is  traveling 
in  the  East.  We  ask  them,  What  do  you  think  of  this  saying  of 
the  young  teacher?  The  Greek  replies  "He  has  never  even  heard 
of  the  groves  of  philosophy  in  Athens,  of  Socrates  and  Plato". 
The  Roman  with  scorn  says,  "His  world  is  a  very  little  one 
bounded  by  these  green  hills,  he  should  see  the  Capital,  he  should 
tread  the  Forum,  then  he  would  not  say  he  was  the  light  of  the 
world".  The  world  is  much  larger  today  than  the  Roman  thought 
and  much  lighter  too,  and  it  is  largely  a  Christian  world.  There 
is  still  much  darkness  of  heathenism  and  sin  but  there  is  hope  that 
it  will  be  dispelled.  The  hope  is  in  Christ's  saying,  for  there  is  no 
bound  to  it.  The  conception  is  original,  bold,  limitless.  "I  am 
the  light  not  of  one  tribe,  one  race,  one  land,  one  continent,  but  of 
the  world." 

We  recognize  at  once,  and  the  world  is  learning  to  recognize  it, 
that  the  grandeur  of  the  conception  is  in  fine  harmony  with  the 
grandeur  of  the  person,  character  and  work  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to  conceive  of  His  leaving  any  dif- 
ferent final  command  to  His  disciples,  such  as  "Take  care  of  your- 
selves", or  "Confine  your  efforts  to  your  own  nation",  the  only 
command  fitting  "the  Light  of  the  World"  is  "Make  disciples  of 
all  the  nations".  We  recognize  also  that  the  missionary  work  is 
not  a  mere  incident  of  church  life  to  be  put  on  or  off  according  to 
circumstance,  convenience  or  caprice,  but  it  is  the  very  essence  of 
church  life,  light  must  shine,  it  is  the  carrying  out  of  the  concep- 
tion of  her  Lord. 

This  great  command  when  first  given  was  to  a  small  group  of 


386  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

men,  not  a  crowd,  not  an  army,  only  a  small  group,  these  few  men 
were  not  distinguished  in  rank,  they  were  of  plain  garb,  nor  in  in- 
fluence, no  admiring  throngs  looked  on,  nor  in  culture,  nor  in 
power  of  any  kind.  The  young  man  who  spoke  it  was  of  the  same 
general  grade  and  character  for  all  the  eye  could  see.  The  world 
they  were  to  conquer,  the  nations  they  were  to  disciple  were  very 
much  in  evidence,  we  can  easily  see  the  greatness  of  their  task. 
The  Jew  was  satisfied  with  his  formal  religion,  he  was  oppressed 
but  he  despised  the  oppressor.  The  Greek  was  satisfied  with  his 
culture.  The  Roman  was  satisfied  with  his  power.  Temples  and 
priests,  palaces  and  armies,  learning,  luxury  and  cruelty,  this  was 
the  world:  and  beyond  the  limits  of  the  empire  were  the  barbarians 
held  in  check  by  force.  The  command  of  this  young  man  to  these 
few  humble  men  to  make  disciples  of  all  nations  has  grandeur  in 
it,  but  it  is  the  grandeur  of  audacity,  an  audacity  so  great  that  it 
is  foolhardy,  an  audacity  of  supreme  folly.  Looking  now  beyond 
the  seen  to  the  unseen,  seeing  in  this  young  man  the  Son  of  God 
triumphant  over  sin,  death  and  the  grave,  and  clothed  with  univer- 
sal dominion  the  command  has  all  the  grandeur  of  that  other  com- 
mand spoken  by  the  same  voice  over  the  chaos  of  the  world's  be- 
ginning— "Let  there  be  light".  The  sublime  account  says,  "and 
light  was".  Not  the  full  light  we  know,  for  sun,  moon  and  stars 
could  not  yet  be  seen  from  the  earth,  but  the  light  from  the  con- 
densation of  matter,  the  glowing  gases  in  the  growing  order.  So 
"light  was"  follows  the  divine  order  in  this  missionary  commission, 
not  the  light  of  today's  civilization,  but  the  light  of  a  few  Christ- 
like lives  entering  and  pervading  society,  the  kindling,  the  dawn- 
ing light,  the  light  of  the  growing  order  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Those  opposing  nations,  the  opposing  forces  of  the  world  were 
more  also  than  the  eye  alone  could  see.  They  were  the  manifes- 
tation of  the  one  all  embracing  force,  a  fundamental  persistent 
force,  we  call  human  nature.  Human  nature  cultured  and  uncultured 
loved  self,  lived  for  self,  the  society  it  formed  was  largely  a  selfish 
society.  Christ's  Kingdom  was  the  reverse  of  this,  love  of  others, 
a  self-sacrificing  love,  to  love  Christ  and  grow  like  Him  in  loving 
and  serving  others.     To  have  Christ's  spirit  in   their  hearts  and 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  387 

lives  and  to  implant  this  spirit  in  others,  even  in  all  hearts  and 
lives  was  their  commission.  All  the  revolutions  among  nations, 
changes  of  rulers,  of  forms  of  government,  of  systems  oi  religion 
are  as  nothing  to  this,  a  revolution  of  human  nature.  Yet  human 
nature  was  capable  of  it  and  greatly  needed  it;  the  social  nature  of 
man  had  degraded  itself  and  needed  to  be  ennobled.  What  power 
though  could  work  this  marvelous  change?  To  design  this  change, 
to  promulgate  it  at  one  stroke,  this  is  the  grandeur  of  the  divine 
conception.  To  give  this  command  to  these  few  men  with  the 
sublime  assurance  that  they  would  obey,  with  the  sublime  assur- 
ance that  they  would  succeed,  this  shows  some  little  of  the  grandeur 
of  the  conception ;  and  of  Him  who  formed  it. 

During  the  passage  of  the  centuries  there  have  been  many  men 
of  many  races  who  have  grasped  the  meaning  of  Christ's  command 
and  whose  minds  and  lives  have  caught  something  of  the  grandeur 
of  Christ's  conception.  There  is  a  certain  element  of  persistency 
about  the  missionary  work  that  fills  one  with  admiration.  The 
work  is  slow,  it  is  not  like  putting  up  a  tent,  it  is  like  building  a 
world  temple.  Men  at  times  labor  eagerly,  at  times  they  lose 
interest,  but  the  work  never  entirely  ceases.  The  command  goes 
before.  Men  follow,  sometimes  faint,  weary,  but  ever  some  are 
still  under  its  spell.  Age  follows  age,  generations  come  and  go, 
empires  rise  and  fall,  civilizations  flourish  and  decay,  but  the 
missionary  work  goes  on.  It  has  its  lulls,  but  it  does  not  die.  It 
faints  sometimes,  but  it  still  lives.  The  work  has  gone  on  through 
nineteen  centuries,  and  it  is  larger,  stronger,  grander  today  than 
ever  before;  for  this  is  preeminently  the  missionary  age  of  the 
church. 

It  has  been  said  that  angels  would  be  glad  to  be  missionaries. 
But  angels  however  glorious  they  may  be  are  not  capable  of  such 
exalted  service.  Men  and  women  redeemed  from  sin  are  sent  to 
tell  the  story  of  redemption,  having  the  Christ  spirit  they  convey 
that  spirit  to  others.  The  King  in  sending  them  forth  as  His 
Ambassadors  with  the  proclamation  of  His  Kingdom  confers  in 
that  act  a  title  of  nobility  upon  them,  even  confers  upon  them  His 
own  kingly  nature.    They  are  the  true  nobility,  not  of  a  particular 


388  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

nation  but  of  the  whole  earth,  of  humanity  itself,  they  are  the  real 
noblemen  and  noble  women  of  the-world.  Names  arise  at  once 
in  our  memories  of  the  leaders  in  the  missionary  work  and  we 
recognize  them  as  heroes,  and  we  know  that  those  whose  names 
are  forgotten  had  the  same  heroic  spirit.  A  great  poet  has  written 
this  reply  of  Paul  to  one  who  asked  his  name — 

"Christ's  I  am  Christ's  and  let  that  name  suffice  you. 

"Aye,  for  me  too  He  greatly  hath  sufficed". 

Many  a  man  and  woman  alone  in  heathen  lands  today,  not  hav- 
ing heard  their  own  names  in  their  own  language  for  years,  might 
make  the  same  reply.  Carey,  the  father  of  missions  in  modern 
times,  labored  long  without  a  single  convert,  but  never  faltered. 
Judson  wrote  home  to  the  discouraged  church  "If  I  could  go  to  any 
part  of  the  world  and  the  ship  was  ready  to  sail,  I  would  not  leave 
my  field".  His  life  was  so  noble  that  the  natives  called  him 
"Jesus  Christ's  man".  Livingstone  who  died  upon  his  knees  in 
the  heart  of  Africa,  and  who  lies  buried  with  England's  great  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  when  he  was  once  praised  for  his  self-sacrifice 
said  "That  cannot  be  called  a  sacrifice  which  is  a  payment  of 
but  a  small  part  of  a  great  debt  to  God.  It  is  a  privilege,  I  have 
never  made  a  sacrifice."  A  young  missionary  in  dying  said  "Had 
I  a  thousand  lives  I  would  give  them  all  for  Christ".  Our  own 
Dr.  Chamberlain,  several  times  broken  in  health,  and  having  earned 
a  right  to  rest,  went  to  India  again  when  an  old  man  to  spend  his 
closing  days.  When  he  left  us  he  said  "Some  men  pity  me.  But 
I  pity  the  man  that  pities  me.  I  am  spending  my  life  in  the 
grandest  work  on  earth".  Many  at  home  have  the  same  noble 
spirit.  A  father  whose  son  was  about  to  sail  wrote  this  touch- 
ing sentence,  "My  gift  to  missions  is  my  only  son".  He  who 
said  "As  my  Father  hath  sent  me  so  send  I  you",  gives  His  own 
spirit  to  His  obedient  people. 

The  grandeur  of  this  conception  gives  a  grandeur  to  the  lives 
of  those  who  grasp  it.  The  great  characteristic  of  this  the  mis- 
sionary age  of  the  church  is  that  for  the  first  time  in  her  history 
the  whole  church  is  engaged  in  the  work.  Individuals  in  all  ages 
have  gone  out  singly  or  in  groups,  but  they  have  separated  them- 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS  389 

selves  from  the  home  church  and  have  lived  their  lives  in  heathen 
lands  without  other  support  or  ties  besides  the  consciousness  that 
the  prayers  and  sympathy  of  their  former  associates  followed  them. 

The  mission  work  not  only  in  heathen  lands  but  now  especially' 
in  the  home  church  is  sociological.  Individuals  have  in  all  ages 
caught  the  grandeur  of  Christ's  conception  and  have  been  ennobled 
by  it.  Now  the  whole  church  is  attaining  the  same  grandeur. 
The  church  of  Antioch  in  the  early  day  sent  out  Paul  and  Silas, 
and  after  their  long  absence  received  them  again,  they  were  as  scouts 
governing  their  own  movements,  cut  off  from  their  fellows,  doing 
the  work,  and  returning,  and  starting  out  again.  Now  the  mis- 
sionary work  is  that  of  a  great  army  sent  out,  directed  and  sup- 
ported by  the  home  church.  The  organization  of  Boards  of  Mis- 
sions, men  chosen  by  the  church  to  look  over  and  select  the  field 
of  work,  to  select  and  prepare  the  men  for  the  work,  to  send 
them  forth,  direct  them  and  support  them  in  the  work,  to  call  upon 
the  church  with  information  and  appeal  and  to  devise  channels  of 
constant  communication  and  help  between  the  home  and  the 
foreign  workers  is  itself  a  great  sociological  achievement.  This 
extends  to  every  individual  church  in  a  denomination,  giving  a  new 
and  large  element  of  organization  in  each  society  and  providing 
an  opportunity  for  any  individual  Christian  to  take  a  part  in  the 
great  work,  to  personally  obey  the  great  command.  The  Secre- 
tary of  each  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  is  a  commander  in  chief 
of  a  great  force,  he  sees  the  need  of  any  particular  part  of  the  field, 
he  calls  upon  the  nation,  in  his  case  the  church,  for  recruits  and 
subsistence  and  sends  individuals  and  divisions  where  most  needed. 
In  1908  over  $22,000,000  was  raised  in  Christian  lands  to  send 
the  gospel  and  over  19,000  men  and  women  from  Christian  lands 
were  missionaries  in  heathen  lands.  This  vast  sum  of  money  and 
this  large  army  of  men  and  women  were  devoted  to  a  purely 
benevolent  work  with  no  thought  of  any  recompense  from  heathen 
nations. 

Then,  too,  the  boards  of  different  denominations  divide  the 
lieathen  world  between  them,  they  labor  in  harmony  with  each 
other  to  establish  Christianity  in  the  whole  earth.    This  is  an  age 


390  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  organization  and  the  church  is  in  the  van,  is  thoroughly  organ- 
ized to  realize  the  grand  conception  of  Christ.  She  is  beginning 
to  feel  her  sociological  capabilities,  to  realize  something  of  the 
grandeur  of  her  social  force.  There  is  a  masterpiece  of  painting 
by  one  of  the  world's  famous  artists  called  "The  Charge  of  the 
Old  Guard".  Napoleon  on  horse  back  is  on  the  brow  of  a  hill 
a  little  to  one  side  and  before  him  thousands  of  horsemen  in  wild 
fury  but  in  perfect  order  are  rushing  to  the  charge.  Near  his 
own  name  at  the  bottom  of  the  picture  the  artist  has  written  these 
words  "They  do  his  will".  The  picture  thrills  one  with  the  sense 
of  vast  and  fully  directed  power,  vast  power  organized,  not  a  few 
men  but  a  multitude,  with  one  spirit.  So  before  Christ  today 
passes  His  missionary  force,  for  the  first  time  in  history  it  is  the 
whole  Christian  church  organized,  only  now  let  there  be  a  little 
more  of  the  spirit  of  the  picture,  "They  do  His  will."  When 
Napoleon  ordered  the  old  guard  to  charge  it  was  at  the  crisis 
of  the  battle,  it  was  to  sweep  the  field,  and  this  painting  shows 
them  rushing  on  to  splendid  victory.  There  are  indications  today, 
it  is  a  part  of  the  world's  outlook,  that  in  the  organization  of  the 
Christian  church  there  is  a  prospect  of  splendid  victory,  a  victory 
not  shuddering  with  the  groans  of  the  dying  but  ringing  with  the 
acclamations  of  the  saved,  the  victory  of  the  "kingdom  which  is 
righteousness,  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit". 

The  organized  church  has  thrown  a  large  and  well-directed  fora^ 
into  the  foreign  field  and  has  gained  already  a  large  promise  of 
coming  success.  It  is  not  absolutely  correct  perhaps  but  still  is  a 
reasonable  and  moderate  estimate  made  by  Dr.  D.  L.  Leonard 
from  all  available  reports,  that  today  there  are  in  heathen  lands 
nearly  twenty  thousand  missionaries,  over  one  hundred  thousand 
native  helpers,  over  two  million  church  members  converts  from 
heathenism,  and  nearly  five  million  adherents  of  Christianity  who 
have  so  far  renounced  idolatry  that  they  are  desirous  of  learning 
about  Christ.  There  are  also  nearly  thirty  thousand  schools  of 
all  grades  supported  by  the  missions  and  in  these  there  are  over  a 
million  and  a  quarter  scholars.  There  are  also  over  five  hundred 
hospitals  maintained  by  missionaries  in  various  heathen  lands,  and 
also  about  fifty  publishing  houses. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  391 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  measure  the  progress  of  Christian- 
ity through  the  centuries  by  the  number  of  its  adherents,  and  the 
estimate  is  probably  near  the  truth.  In  the  year  313  when  Con- 
stantine  was  Emperor  it  is  estimated  the  Christian  population  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  the  then  known  world,  was  twelve  million. 
In  1000  it  was  fifty  million.  In  1800  it  was  200,000  million,  in 
1900  it  was  five  hundred  million.  Already  one-third  of  the  world 
is  Christian,  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  growth  has  been  larger 
in  the  last  century  than  in  all  the  preceding  centuries.  It  has  been 
largely  by  the  more  rapid  development  of  Christian  lands,  a  better 
sociological  condition,  as  well  as  by  the  inroads  made  upon  heath- 
enism. 

There  are  three  elements  of  great  strength  in  the  sociological 
aspect  of  missions  as  it  concerns  the  church  at  home.  The  first 
IS  that  this  work  is  so  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  intellectual  and 
energetic  Arjan  race,  the  northern  races  of  Europe,  and  in  the  van 
are  England  and  the  United  States.  The  Jew  as  commissioned  to 
proclaim  the  one  true  God  to  the  world  has  been  so  faithless  to  the 
trust  that  he  has  fallen  behind,  and  the  wonderfully  gifted  Aryan 
race  has  received  the  treasure  and  is  springing  to  the  fulfillment  of 
the  great  commission. 

The  second  is  that  this  intellectual  race  has  already  given  so 
many  versions  of  the  Scripture  to  the  various  races  of  the  world. 
We  cannot  estimate  the  influence  of  the  English  version  of  the 
Bible  upon  English  speaking  peoples.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
last  centurj'  there  were  but  tew  versions  of  the  Scriptures.  Now 
there  are  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  versions  into  the  main  lan- 
guages and  dialects  of  the  world.  This  great  work  has  been  well 
and  nobly  done  by  the  only  race  so  intellectually  gifted  as  to  be 
able  to  see  the  great  need  of  so  many  various  nations,  and  to  supply 
it.  Had  the  heathen  nations  themselves  had  this  work  cast  upon 
them,  as  it  was  cast  upon  our  ancestors,  the  Bible  would  have 
remained  for  generations  to  many  of  them  in  an  unknown  tongue. 

The  third  element  is  that  this  energetic  race  has  by  its  daring 
and  enterprise  discovered  and  opened  all  the  world.  Much  of  the 
world  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  was  unknown  or  closed 

26 


392  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

to  the  general  intercourse  of  mankind.  Now  some  doors  have  been 
opened  by  pressure  from  without,  some  by  invitation  from  within, 
and  the  whole  world  is  now  known  and  reached.  The  great 
oceans  and  highways,  and  isles  and  continents  and  lands  in  all 
climes  are  known  and  open  to  the  missionary  work  of  the  church. 
Flags  of  nations,  even  of  so-called  Christian  nations  may  often 
denote  selfish  triumph,  but  the  banner  of  the  cross  brings  love  and 
blessing  wherever  it  goes.  From  sick  beds  weary  eyes  look  to  it 
for  healing,  from  dense  ignorance  darkened  minds  look  to  it  for 
light,  from  the  degradation  of  heathenism  ruined  souls  look  to  it 
for  life.  The  grandeur  of  Christ's  conception  is  now  becoming 
the  grand  outlook  of  His  church.  His  vision  is  becoming  her 
vision.     His  lofty  aim  is  lifting  her  to  true  nobility. 

The  sociological  aspect  of  missions  is  in  the  organization  of  the 
whole  church  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the  Kingdom  of  God 
in  the  whole  world.  Much  success  has  been  already  attained.  In 
this  world  movement  the  laying  the  foundation  for  a  world  civili- 
zation is  already  far  advanced.  We  speak  of  Christian  England 
and  of  Christian  America.  Men  will  one  day,  and  that  not  a 
distant  day,  have  as  good  cause,  may  it  be  far  better  cause,  to  say 
this  is  a  Christian  world.  The  world  will  not  be  content  with  a 
civilization  like  our  American  civilization  as  we  are  not  content 
with  it.  It  is  a  great  advance,  we  would  far  rather  live  in  this 
land  and  age  than  in  any  other.  But  the  highest  Christian  civi- 
lization has  a  still  higher  ideal. 

The  sociology  of  missions  is  seen  also  in  the  aims,  methods  and 
results  in  heathen  lands.  Christ's  aim  was  to  save  souls  and 
through  saved  souls  to  save  society,  to  establish  His  kingdom  in 
all  lands.  The  salvation  of  a  soul  in  the  life  to  come  is  the  result 
of  salvation  in  the  present  life,  the  soul  saved  now  is  saved  then. 
Salvation  on  earth  prepares  for  salvation  beyond  the  earth.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  prepares  for  the  Kingdom  of  God  in 
heaven,  the  society  of  earth  for  the  society  of  heaven.  The  soul 
that  is  not  saved  in  its  social  nature  is  not  saved  at  all,  for  the  soul 
is  a  social  personality.  That  which  the  church  has  all  along  been 
doing  unconsciously,  she  now  plans  and  intends  to  do.     She  aims 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  393 

to  save  a  soul,  a  social  soul,  a  successive  generation  of  souls,  a 
growing  society,  the  whole  society  of  souls.  The  aim  of  missions 
is  Christ's  aim,  the  church  has  caught  His  vision,  the  vision  of  a 
saved  society.  The  methods  and  means  are  also  sociological.  The 
appeal  is  to  the  social  nature  of  man.  Christ  did  not  leave  the 
choice  of  means  to  man,  he  prescribed  them,  to  teach,  to  influence, 
to  persuade.  Men  have  sometimes  forgotten  that  to  make  a  dis- 
ciple by  force  was  to  make  only  a  nominal  one.  Trying  force  has 
been  man's  mistake,  out  of  harmony  with  Christ's  Kingdom  in  the 
heart,  and  doomed  to  failure,  being  unadapted  to  the  social  nature 
of  man.  But  the  means  Christ  directs  when  earnestly  used  even  in 
apparent  failures  are  seen  to  be  worthy  of  success,  and  generally 
they  win  success.  The  revelation  of  God  in  the  Bible  commends 
itself  to  man  wherever  found  and  becomes  his  conception  of  God. 
And  souls  having  this  conception  have  their  social  nature  swayed 
by  it,  they  come  into  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  the  society 
gathered  about  God :  and  it  is  the  nature  of  this  society  to  spread 
and  influence  the  general  society  where  it  dwells.  Peace  not  war, 
arguments  not  blows,  books  not  guns,  persuasion  not  power,  love 
not  force,  these  means  make  disciples  in  all  nations.  The  day  when 
might  makes  right  passes  when  Christ  comes.  He  brings  in  the 
better  day  when  right  is  the  only  might.  These  means  change 
the  manners  and  customs,  the  standards  and  ideals,  the  laws  and 
the  spirit  of  heathen  society,  and  bring  in  a  Christian  civilization. 
The  methods  of  modern  missions  are  directed  to  the  general 
welfare  of  mankind.  We  have  medical  mission  work,  to  cure  sick- 
ness and  relieve  pain  not  only,  but  to  discover  and  check  the  causes 
of  these  ills  and  to  teach  and  persuade  men  to  obey  God's  laws  of 
health.  We  have  educational  mission  work,  to  inspire  and  train 
the  mind  of  men  and  enlarge  their  vision  beyond  the  narrow  hori- 
zon of  the  place  and  time  where  they  dwell.  We  have  charitable 
mission  work,  to  relieve  present  distress  and  to  discover  the  causes 
of  distress  and  remove  them.  We  have  industrial  mission  work, 
to  teach  industry  and  enlightened  methods  of  carrying  it  on  to 
secure  adequate  results,  to  relieve  in  famine  as  is  so  often  the 
need  in  India,  for  instance,  and  to  co-operate  with  the  enlightened 


394  THE   SOCIOLOGY   OF  THE   BIBLE 

government  in  methods  to  remove  the  cause  of  famine  in  the  irri- 
gation and  sensible  cultivation  of  the  land.  Hospitals  and  medical 
schools,  schools  and  colleges,  industrial  schools  and  relief  stations 
and  commercial  enterprises,  as  well  as  churches  are  included  in 
modern  missions. 

The  results  are  also  sociological.  The  soul  coming  into  the 
loyalty  to  Christ  comes  at  once  into  a  new  view  and  feeling  in 
regard  to  all  other  souls,  to  those  nearest  to  him  in  highest  degree, 
to  all  even  the  furthest  removed  in  some  degree.  The  converted 
soul  begins  to  pray  as  the  Lord  taught  him,  and  he  calls  God  by 
the  name  of  Father  not  only,  he  says  Our  Father :  the  brotherhood 
of  man  comes  from  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  Our  Father,  how 
many  are  there  of  us  praying  and  being  prayed  for  in  the  daily 
prayer?  The  heathen  mind  begins  to  expand,  it  takes  in  the  home, 
the  neighborhood,  the  race.  We  have  contrasted  the  Christian 
home  with  the  old  Roman  home.  Whenever  a  Christian  home  is 
established  in  a  heathen  community  the  difference  manifests  itself 
there,  in  the  finer  feelings,  the  higher  standard  of  fidelity,  in  the 
elevation  of  woman,  the  consideration  of  children,  in  the  sweet- 
ness, purity  and  strength  of  the  family  life;  and  the  influence  of 
the  changed  home  spreads  into  the  neighborhood.  So  also  with 
the  new  standards  and  incentives  to  industry,  and  in  all  neighbor- 
hood consideration  and  helpfulness.  So  the  influence  spreads,  the 
Christian  home,  the  Christian  village,  and  the  larger  community 
feels  the  pulse  of  stronger  and  better  life. 

All  portions  of  the  race  are  lifted  into  a  higher  social  life.  The 
lowest  are  of  course  changed  in  the  most  marked  manner.  The 
wild  nature  and  the  ferocious  customs  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders 
are  so  changed  that  the  former  cannibal  becomes  an  angel  of 
mercy,  rescuing  and  caring  for  the  shipwrecked  sailor.  The  nar- 
row browed  Hottentot  grasps  something  of  science  and  statesman- 
ship and  his  community  life  takes  on  purer  and  nobler  features.  The 
New  York  Tribune  a  few  weeks  ago  said  in  one  of  its  careful  edi- 
torials, "Since  the  days  of  Livingstone  missionaries  in  Africa  have 
been  busy  preaching  Christianity  among  the  natives  and  teaching 
them  the  wavs  of  humane  civilization.    Thus  incalculable  good  has 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  395 

been  done.  Slavery  and  cannibalism  have  been  abolished,  the 
offering  of  human  sacrifices  has  become  a  thing  of  the  past,  and 
populous  tribes  such  as  the  Swazes,  the  Basutos,  and  the  people  of 
Khama's  kingdom  have  been  elevated  to  a  considerable  degree  of 
civilization.  But  some  evil  threatens.  The  missionaries  have 
preached  the  religious  equality  of  the  races,  that  all  are  equal  in 
God's  sight.  The  Basutos  quickly  reason  that  if  they  are  equal  in 
His  sight  they  must  be  equal  in  all  respects,  and  they  are  begin- 
ning to  dream  of  "Africa  for  the  Africans". 

The  pariah  of  India  begins  to  have  respect  for  himself  and  for 
his  kind,  and  to  show  qualities  demanding  the  respect  of  others. 
So  also  the  highest  of  heathenism  feel  the  change.  The  editor  of 
one  of  Japan's  largest  newspapers  wrote  a  few  months  ago  "Look 
all  over  Japan.  Our  more  than  forty  millions  have  a  higher 
standard  of  morality  than  they  have  ever  known.  Our  ideas  of 
loyalty  and  obedience  are  higher  than  ever.  And  we  acknowledge 
that  the  cause  of  this  great  moral  advance  can  be  found  only  in 
the  religion  of  Christ". 

So  also  all  portions  of  human  life  are  lifted  up  to  higher  wel- 
ware.  The  Buddhist  at  the  World's  Parliament  of  Religion  at 
Chicago  a  few  years  ago  who  admired  Christ's  ministry  to  the 
physical  needs  of  mankind  and  challenged  Christian  missionaries 
to  follow  his  example,  had  failed  to  observe  how  closely  they  do 
follow  their  Lord.  The  medical,  educational  and  charitable  work 
of  missionaries,  together  with  the  religious  teaching,  leave  behind 
them  in  heathen  lands  as  Christ  left  behind  Him  in  His  journeys 
through  Judea  and  Galilee  a  wave  of  health  and  courage  and  new, 
prosperous  life,  a  society  looking  not  backward  but  forward.  The 
people  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  coming  Kingdom  of  God,  the 
Kingdom  in  which  the  bodies,  the  minds  and  the  souls  of  men  are 
made  strong  in  the  presence  of  the  King.  For  the  first  time  the 
whole  church  thoroughly  organized  is  carrying  out  her  Lord's 
command,  is  grasping  His  grand  conception  of  a  World  Kingdom. 
For  the  first  time  the  whole  world  is  known  and  open  to  the  mis- 
sionary work  of  the  church.  For  the  first  time  the  church  is 
grasping  the  great  conception  of  her  Lord  that  society  is  to  be 


396  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

saved,  all  portions  of  the  race,  and  all  portions  of  human  life. 
The  conception  of  Christ  in  all  its  grandeur  is  being  recognized, 
and  since  Christ  is  in  it,  the  world's  condition  will  one  day  be  its 
full  realization.    Kipling's  stanza  may  be  adapted  to  our  thought — 

"O  East  is  East  and  West  is  West 
And  never  the  twain  will  meet 
Till  East  and  West  stand  presently 
At  God's  great  Judgment  Seat. 
But  there  is  neither  East  nor  West 
Border  nor  breed  nor  birth, 
When  Christian  men  stand  face  to  face, 
For  Christ's  Conquest  of  the  Earth". 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Further  Advance  of  Christian  Civilization. 

The  church  in  her  growing  consciousness  of  herself  as  a  social 
force  must  be  further  confirmed  and  stimulated  by  the  consider- 
ation of  the  great  work  that  remains  to  be  done  in  Christian  lands. 
Christian  civilization,  fine  as  it  is,  might  and  should  be  much  finer 
and  better;  it  is  not  yet  the  civilization  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
the  civilization  of  "righteousness,  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost." 
While  a  noble  work  is  being  done  in  heathen  lands  every  reflect- 
ing mind  must  recognize  that  the  unchristian  life  and  conduct  of 
Christian  nations,  soldiers,  sailors,  merchants,  travelers,  the  so-called 
Christian  sword,  scales,  pleasure,  have  largely  hindered  it.  When 
Christian  nations  in  national  policy  and  the  conduct  of  their  rep- 
resentatives of  all  grades  shall  be  really  Christian,  the  social  ser- 
vice of  the  church  in  heathen  lands  will  be  greatly  advanced. 
While  the  advance  of  civilization  for  twenty  centuries  from 
ancient  Rome,  through  our  barbarian  ancestors  to  the  present  day 
has  been  marvellous,  and  is  to  be  largely  credited  to  Christianity 
every  reflecting  mind  must  recognize  that  greater  and  better 
advance  could  have  been  made  had  the  church  had  a  conscious 
purpose,  a  well  considered  plan,  and  a  persistent  effort  through  the 
centuries  to  elevate  the  social  life  of  the  people.  Much  more  might 
have  been  accomplished  if  the  Christian  church  had  always,  or 
even  if  she  had  at  certain  great  critical  stages  consciously  held  this 
as  her  aim  and  had  intelligently  and  wisely  directed  her  whole 
power  to  its  promotion.  While  the  church  has  had  her  creed 
making,  government  forming,  and  worship  culturing  ages,  and  has 
now  entered  upon  her  ministering  age,  it  would  have  been  more 
in  keeping  with  Christ's  great  commission  had  she  from  the  first  and 


398  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

throughout  her  whole  history,  devoted  her  main  strength  to  minis- 
tering to  the  social  needs  of  mankind.  Without  question  her  pres- 
ent privilege  is  simply  to  preserve  all  that  is  valuable  in  creed, 
government  and  forms  of  worship,  and  in  the  spirit  of  genuine 
belief,  of  good  government  and  of  sincere  worship  to  devote  her- 
self to  the  uplift  of  society. 

It  must  also  be  recognized  that  not  only  has  her  influence  been 
unconscious,  unplanned  and  fitful,  but  that  she  has  made  many 
mistakes  due  to  ignorance  of  her  mission  and  of  the  best  ways  of 
carrying  it  out.  The  church  as  a  social  force  must  make  today 
conscious  and  intelligent  effort  to  better  society,  and  not  be  con- 
tent with  an  unintelligent  and  unconscious  influence.  Piety  is  good 
in  itself  and  its  influence  is  generally  sweet  and  wholesome,  but  if 
it  is  ignorant  it  is  liable  to  make  blunders,  and  to  do  much  harm 
without  intending  it.  The  church  conscious  of  her  purpose  to  benefit 
society  must  be  familiar  with  the  delicate  and  complicated  though 
strong  forces  she  wields,  and  with  the  equally  delicate,  complicated 
and  strong  elements  she  wishes  to  improve,  life  forces  upon  life 
elements.  Blundering  is  surely  to  be  avoided  in  using  and  influenc- 
ing such  forces  and  elements.  The  church  should  surely  be 
familiar  with  the  sociology  of  the  Bible,  and  with  that  also  of  gen- 
eral society,  if  she  would  exercise  her  social  force  beneficently  in 
the  world.  Piety  is  of  vast  importance,  but  something  more  is 
needed  in  the  individual  and  in  the  church,  it  must  be  an  intelli- 
gent piety.  Piety  without  scientific  knowledge  would  work  dis- 
aster in  a  drug  store  or  on  a  steamship,  so  piety  without  sociological 
knowledge  will  often  work  injury  in  society.  One  need  not  go 
far  to  discover  some  of  the  great  blunders  piety  has  made  in  its 
ignorance.  The  charity  of  the  church  in  the  middle  ages  made 
promiscuous  alms  giving  a  virtue,  and  canonized  beggary,  it 
fostered  the  pauperism  it  sought  to  relieve.  The  charity  of  today 
is  "not  alms  but  a  friend",  "not  alms  but  justice  by  all  to  all",  and 
it  aims  to  diminish  and  abolish  pauperism.  So  justice  in  the  mid- 
dle ages  was  retributive,  it  regarded  the  crime  as  deserving  great 
penalties,  and  by  its  severity  it  fostered  criminality.  Justice  today 
seeks  to  grade  penalties  to  the  condition  of  the  criminal,  the  newest 


CHRISTIAN   CIVILIZATION  399 

penology  seeks  to  save  the  criminal  to  society,  it  aims  to  do  away 
with  crime,  and  has  promise  of  large  success.  In  many  directions 
an  intelligent  piety  is  needed  to  meet  the  present  complex  needs 
of  society.  As  with  the  church  universal  so  each  church  in  each 
community  should  make  conscious  and  intelligent  effort  to  improve 
the  society  of  that  community. 

The  knowledge  of  society,  of  the  laws  and  forces,  of  the  insti- 
tutions, of  the  varied  conditions  of  man's  associated  life  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  church  for  well-directed  effort.  The 
great  work  of  the  church  today  may  be  generally  described  in 
three  particulars,  and  in  each  the  need  of  sociological  knowledge 
is  evident,  a  knowledge  so  fine  that  it  becomes  the  basis  of  fine 
instinctive  action. 

The  first  is  the  salvation  of  individual  souls.  The  mission  of  'Y 
each  church  in  each  community  is  to  do  what  Christ  did  while 
He  was  upon  the  earth.  He  came  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost, 
that  must  be  the  work  of  the  church  first  and  all  the  while.  But 
Christ  had  a  great  sympathy  for  humanity,  it  was  instinctive  with 
Him  to  enter  into  a  fellow  feeling  with  mankind.  Our  love  for 
souls  is  apt  to  be  somewhat  vague,  the  soul  is  some  invisible, 
impalpable  thing  connected  with  man,  and  still  separated  from  his 
outward  condition.  With  Christ  the  soul  included  the  whole 
man  in  his  whole  condition,  it  was  equivalent  to  his  life,  "What 
shall  it  profit  a  man  to  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  life", 
his  intellectual  life,  his  moral  life,  his  spiritual  life,  his  social  life, 
his  life  in  all  departments,  his  whole  life  in  time  and  in  eternity. 
Christ  taught  and  healed  in  order  to  save  life.  He  ministered  to 
all  the  needs  of  man  that  he  might  minister  to  the  supreme  need. 
Our  love  for  souls  will  become  less  vague  when  we  consider  the 
social  relations  and  the  varied  conditions  of  souls,  of  human  life, 
when  we  consider  the  influence  of  the  past  conditions  of  birth  and 
bringing  up  upon  the  present,  and  of  the  present  upon  the  future. 
"How  the  other  half  lives"  is  worth  knowing  by  each  half,  and 
each  half  must  know,  before  it  can  take  much  interest  in  or  be  of 
much  service  to  the  other  half.  The  church  in  order  to  save 
souls  must  have  some  of  her  Lord's  deep  sympathy  for  humanity, 


400  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

for  human  life  in  its  varied  conditions,  and  this  can  only  be  brought 
about  by  knowing  all  that  can  be  known  about  society,  by  the 
sociological  knowledge  that  gives  a  basis  for  an  intelligent  appre- 
ciation of  each  soul  in  its  own  peculiar  social  conditions. 
/  ^  The  second  particular  of  the  church's  work  is  the  salvation  of 
the  whole  soul,  that  is  of  the  whole  life.  It  is  strange  that  any 
one  acknowledging  Christ  as  his  Lord  should  have  any  place  for 
the  lurking  thought  that  He  was  not  Lord  over  the  whole  of  him. 
The  church  must  not  allow  any  single  soul  inside  or  outside  of 
her  membership  to  feel  that  there  is  more  than  one  moral  standard. 
Surely  there  are  not  as  many  standards  as  there  are  pursuits  and 
professions,  as  there  are  conditions  and  experiences  of  the  laboring 
man  in  his  labor,  of  the  business  man  in  his  business,  of  the  director 
in  his  corporation.  Piety  towards  God  leads  to  righteousness 
toward  men.  Mr.  Williams  in  his  article  on  "The  First  Test  of 
Christianity"  says  "The  church  is  to  let  the  Christian  conscience 
out  of  its  narrow  limits.  She  is  to  teach  men  to  do  business,  to  go 
to  the  polls  and  leigslative  halls  as  they  go  to  the  sacrament,  in  the 
fear  of  God.  She  is  to  speak  as  fearlessly  from  her  pulpits  against 
the  evils  of  commercial  dishonesty  and  political  corruption  as  she 
does  against  those  of  open  vice,  let  it  cost  her  what  it  may  in 
patronage,  gifts  or  social  prestige.  And  until  she  does  this  she 
will  not  commend  her  religion  as  valid  or  virile  to  this  age." 
JU  The  third  particular  of  the  church's  work  is  to  impress  upon  the 
C f^  public  mind  precisely  the  same  spiritual  laws  and  sanctions  it 
impresses  upon  the  private  mind  of  its  members.  She  must  not 
permit  men  to  think  that  in  any  public  act  or  capacity  they  are  not 
held  by  God  and  the  people  to  as  strict  an  application  of  religious 
principles  as  in  their  private  affairs.  The  sweeping  generalization 
is  absolutely  true,  that  "the  Father's  business  is  everything  human", 
it  was  the  ideal  of  Christ,  it  must  be  the  ideal  of  the  church  car- 
rying on  His  life  work  to  the  general  welfare  of  society.  The 
religious  and  secular  life  must  merge  in  individuals  in  ever  increas- 
ing numbers  until  they  merge  in  the  life  of  society  in  general. 
There  must  be  room  for  God  in  private  and  in  public  life,  in  busi- 
ness, in  citizenship,  in  public  office,  in  national  life  and  in  world 
life. 


CHRISTIAN   CIVILIZATION  401 

The  sociology  of  the  Bible,  the  particular  society  gathered  about 
the  particular  conception  of  God  must  be  more  fully  applied  to  the 
general  society  of  today  if  Christian  civilization  is  to  be  preserved 
and  advanced.  By  our  knovi^ledge  and  command  of  the  forces  of 
nature  and  of  the  resources  of  our  new  continent  we  have  grasped 
a  vast  store  of  material  wealth.  We  have  not  yet  fully  learned 
how  to  distribute  this  vast  store  justly  nor  to  use  it  wisely.  By 
our  republican  form  of  government  we  have  vast  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  people  of  this  great  nation.  We  have  not  yet  fully 
learned  how  to  use  this  power  for  the  good  of  all  the  people  of 
our  nation  and  of  the  world.  The  attempt  of  some  to  prosper  at 
the  expense  of  the  rest,  ignoring  the  rights  of  their  fellows,  ignor- 
ing the  things  of  the  mind  and  of  the  soul,  the  attempt  to  wrong- 
fully grasp  this  vast  store  of  wealth  and  political  power  is  certainly 
a  possible  peril  of  our  civilization.  By  the  legislative  investigation 
of  police  corruption  and  insurance  corruption,  by  the  further 
investigation,  though  largely  private,  of  many  lines  of  trust  com- 
binations, stock  manipulation  and  franchise  purchase  and  abuse, 
many  eminent  Christian  men  have  been  revealed  as  allowing  and 
doing  in  combined  action  what  their  conscience  would  have  checked 
in  their  private  lives.  The  revelations  of  the  greed,  dishonesty 
and  dishonor  so  astounding  today  have  opened  the  eyes  of  mankind 
to  the  danger  in  America  not  only  but  in  the  whole  civilized 
world:  and  have  also  aroused  the  conscience  of  the  people  to 
oppose  and  correct  the  evil  tendency.  The  existing  relations 
between  the  individual  and  the  industrial  system  and  between  the 
industrial  system  and  the  state  and  the  grave  abuses  they  have 
engendered  call  loudly  for  a  remedy.  Belief  in  God  as  the  Father  ^s 
of  all  men  is  a  belief  that  all  men  are  brothers,  this  great  truth 
with  its  appropriate  practice  is  the  only  available  force  capable  of 
preserving  our  government  and  our  prosperity,  of  preserving  our 
high  civilization. 

As  we  advance  in  our  study  of  the  sociology  of  the  Bible  we 
see  many  particular  principles  which  may  be  applied  to  the  many 
peculiar  problems  of  our  modern  society  to  preserve  and  advance 
our  Christian  civilization. 


402  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

"The   best   is  yet   to   be 
The  last,  for  which  the  first  was  made". 

The  general  principle  of  responsibility  of  each  individual  to 
God,  to  God  as  the  rightful  Sovereign,  the  Great  Father,  the 
heavenly  King  teaches  authoritatively  the  brotherhood  of  man  and 
measures  greatness  by  the  service  rendered  by  man  to  society. 
Society  has  honored  aggrandizement,  has  advanced  to  honor  jus- 
tice, is  now  advancing  to  honor  service ;  in  the  first  there  was  the 
prowess  that  harmed  many;  in  the  second  this  was  restrained,  or 
became  harmless  at  least;  there  is  still  an  advance  to  be  made, 
the  prowess  must  advance  to  helpfulness.  The  theory  that  idle- 
ness is  more  honorable  than  toil,  that  it  is  more  respectable  to 
consume  what  others  have  produced  than  to  be  a  producer,  has 
robbed  society  of  many  values,  material  as  well  as  in  higher 
spheres,  and  has  created  a  gulf  between  the  leisure  and  the  labor- 
ing classes,  between  the  cultured  few  and  the  uncultured  many. 
When  any  imagine  themselves  above  work  they  lose  sight  of 
responsibility  to  God  and  of  the  nobility  of  service  of  man. 
When  all  acknowledge  the  dignity  of  work  and  strive  to  serve 
society  and  are  proud  only  of  the  kind  and  amount  of  the  service, 
the  classes  combine  in  a  general  culture  and  welfare.  The  ancient 
pagan  civilization  carved  on  the  walls  of  the  Temple  of  Karnak 
the  figure  of  a  king  holding  a  sword  over  a  group  of  captives. 
Our  modern  civilization  carves  on  the  walls  of  our  Temple  of 
Law  the  figure  of  Justice  holding  a  nicely  balanced  scale.  The 
sociology  of  the  Bible  has  already  taught  two  nations  to  erect  on 
a  peak  of  the  Andees  marking  their  boundary  line,  the  figure  of 
the  Christ,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  the  King  of  Righteousness,  the 
Sovereign  of  Love,  bestowing  His  favor  equally  upon  both  nations. 
Not  the  sword,  not  the  scales  will  be  the  symbol  of  the  coming 
civilization,  but  the  cross,  the  symbol  of  self-sacrificing  love.  Not 
how  much  can  I  get,  but  how  much  can  I  give.  Not  others 
serve  me,  but  I  serve  others,  the  highest  culture  therein  a  debtor 
to  Greek  and  barbarian  alike;  all  men  drawn  by  Him  who  was 
lifted  up  and  so  sharing  His  drawing  power  for  lifting  up  man 
kind. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Christian,  the  Church  and  The  Universal 
Kingdom  of  God. 

The  truths  of  theology  are  found  in  the  Bible  as  the  facts  of 
any  science  are  found  in  nature,  not  arranged  in  a  system  but  as 
data  from  which  man  forms  a  system.  Sociology  is  found  in  the 
society  of  any  country  or  of  the  whole  race,  in  the  same  way  that 
any  science  is  found  in  nature.  Sociology  is  found  in  the  Bible 
in  the  same  way  that  theology  is  found  there,  the  facts  of  the 
particular  society  of  the  Bible  are  to  be  observed,  classified  and 
the  forces  or  principles  common  to  the  classification  are  to  be 
estimated  in  their  general  action  and  value.  Christ  taught  sociol-  '^ 
ogy  in  the  same  way  he  taught  theology,  not  as  a  system,  not 
as  a  science  but  by  His  life  and  precepts,  by  the  setting  forth  of 
principles,  by  the  giving  of  impulses,  by  the  putting  forth  of 
influences,  by  living,  teaching,  acting  in  the  society  of  his  day. 
Theologically  it  is  said  He  is  the  Son  of  God,  the  creator  of 
nature,  the  revealer  of  God.  Sociologically  it  is  said,  He  is  the 
Son  of  man,  in  Him  the  creature  man  comes  to  his  full  consum- 
mation. He  is  the  revealer  of  humanity. 

The  truths  of  the  Bible,  like  the  facts  of  nature  are  of  great 
variety  and  are  scattered  over  its  pages  in  perplexing  and  fasci- 
nating confusion.  Still  there  is  order  in  the  seeming  confusion, 
only  it  is  not  the  order  we  would  have  made,  not  the  order  of 
science,  not  man-made  but  God-made  order,  both  in  the  Bible  and 
in  nature.  The  flora  of  the  earth  are  in  fields  and  forests  not  in 
flower  gardens  or  in  orchards,  still  there  is  a  God-made  order, 
the  long  succession  and  outgrowth  of  evolution,  the  habitation  of 
soil  and  climate,  of  seashore  and  in-land,  of  mountain  and  plain, 


404  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  the  commingling  and  developing  of  one  another.  So  there  is 
a  great  order  found  in  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  the  long 
succession  and  outgrowth  of  evolution,  the  habitation  of  time  and 
locality,  the  result  of  influencing  other  societies  and  of  being 
influenced  by  them,  and  the  outflow  of  its  special  forces  and  prin- 
ciples into  the  general  society  of  the  race.  It  ennobles  the  mind, 
cultures  its  powers  and  widens  its  horizon  to  observe  the  vast 
God  made  order  in  any  department  of  nature;  and  it  is  in  the 
character  of  man's  mind  and  generally  adds  to  his  power  to  form 
a  science;  to  form  a  man-made  order  of  all  the  truths  the 
great  creator  has  taught  him.  Man  thus  discerns,  and  arranges 
tor  his  use  the  value  and  importance  of  things  related  to  each 
other,  and  so  nature  is  no  longer  perplexing  and  bewildering  to 
him,  but  to  the  extent  of  his  discernment  and  arrangement 
becomes  his  companion  and  helper,  even  the  fitful  lightning 
becomes  his  messenger  and  does  his  work.  To  find  the  relative 
value  and  importance  of  forces  and  principles  in  the  particular 
society  of  the  Bible  is  surely  worth  while,  if  we  would  yield  our- 
selves to  them  and  transmit  them  to  others. 

The  social  consciousness  is  the  result  of  social  development,  it 
must  grow  out  of  the  experience  of  society,  out  of  the  forces  and 
principles  working  in  the  social  life,  and  this  in  its  turn  becomes 
the  transmitter  of  the  ideals  and  standards  which  mould  the  forces 
and  conditions  of  the  future  of  that  society.  The  forces  and  prin- 
ciples therefore  which  have  the  largest  influence  in  awakening  and 
strengthening  the  social  consciousness  are  passed  on  through  this 
consciousness  into  the  future  of  that  society.  It  is  quite  possible 
however  that  through  inattention  by  absorption  in  other  things  or 
through  willfulness  in  choosing  other  things  important  forces  lose 
their  hold  upon  the  social  consciousness  and  the  development  of 
society  is  warped  from  healthful  conditions.  Many  students  of 
American  society  today  fear  that  the  ideals  and  forces  of  democ- 
racy are  growing  dim  and  weak  through  our  absorption  in  the 
pursuit  of  wealth.  It  is  so  with  the  social  consciousness  of  the 
society  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  society  influenced  by  the  Bible; 
important  forces  and  standards  belonging  to  society  as  grouped 


UNIVERSAL  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  405 

around  a  supernatural  revelation  of  God  may  grow  dim  and  weak 
through  inattention  or  willfulness.  Many  students  of  Christianity 
today  fear  that  some  of  her  ideals  and  principles  are  growing  dim 
and  weak  through  her  magnifying  other  ideals,  perhaps  of  equal 
importance:  that  she  fixes  her  attention  so  much  upon  the  future 
life  that  she  neglects  the  present  life;  so  much  upon  individual 
salvation  from  sin  against  God,  that  she  neglects  social  salvation 
from  sins  against  brothers;  so  much  upon  God's  forgiveness  of 
sins  that  she  neglects  newness  of  life  toward  man ;  so  much  upon 
observances  of  religious  privileges  that  she  neglects  social  duties; 
so  much  upon  righteousness  of  relation  to  God  in  His  sight  that 
she  neglects  righteousness  toward  man  in  the  sight  of  both  God 
and  men;  so  much  upon  theology  that  she  neglects  sociology,  that 
she  leaves  out  of  her  religious  life  the  life  of  service  of  mankind. 
To  take  a  careful  view  of  the  broad  outlines  of  the  God-made 
order  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  to  make  a  careful 
estimate  of  the  relative  value  of  the  ideals  and  forces  arising  from 
the  supernatural  revelation  of  God  in  their  designed  bearing  upon 
the  social  consciousness  must  evidently  be  the  safe  course  for 
Christianity  to  pursue  that  she  may  carry  out  God's  plan  in  the 
world. 

There  are  three  main  agencies  God  employed  to  arouse  His 
ideals  in  the  consciousness  of  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible. 
These  agencies  are  the  same  that  are  found  in  general  society, 
since  the  God  of  revelation  and  of  nature  is  one  God.  Social 
consciousness  is  always  in  need  of  leaders,  and  interpreters.  The 
first  agency  God  employed  was  the  prophet,  the  teacher  of 
righteousness.  From  Abraham  through  Moses  and  Isaiah,  to 
Malachi,  from  John,  the  Baptist,  to  Paul,  there  was  the  long  suc- 
cession of  prophets.  Social  consciousness  is  always  in  need  of 
religious  culture.  Man  is  a  religious  being,  and  his  social  nature 
particularly  is  religious;  religion  must  always  have  large  influence 
on  society.  The  second  agency  God  employed  was  the  priest.  He, 
with  the  prophet,  awakened  the  consciousness  of  sin ;  and  when  it 
was  awakened  he  directed  it  in  securing  the  forgiveness  of  sin; 
and  furthered  the  removal  of  sin  in  the  re-establishment  of  right 


4o6  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

relations  with  God  and  man.  The  social  consciousness  always 
recognizes  the  need  of  control,  the  welfare  of  society  depends  upon 
the  members  co-ordinating  with  one  another  in  ministering  to  the 
common  good.  The  third  agency  God  employed  was  the  king. 
He  was  the  vice-roy.  God  himself  was  the  King.  Neither  agency 
can  be  left  out,  either  from  the  Bible,  or  from  society  in  general. 
Still  it  is  quite  evident  the  prophet  and  the  priest  lead  up  to  and 
culminate  in  the  king.  Man  needs  instruction,  he  needs  to  be 
brought  out  of  sin,  and  he  needs  to  live  aright  in  all  the  relations 
of  life,  but  he  needs  the  first  two  in  order  that  he  may  attain  to 
the  third.  The  ceremony  of  anointing  set  apart  each  of  these  three 
officers;  but  it  is  very  faint,  there  are  only  traces  of  it  with  the 
first ;  more  clear  and  marked  Instances  with  the  second ;  while 
with  the  third  it  is  prominent  and  distinct. 

Christ  gathers  in  His  person  these  three  great  agencies,  in  Him 
they  culminate.  He  is  the  Christ,  that  is  the  anointed  prophet, 
priest  and  king.  This  is  true  of  Him  in  the  general  society  of  the 
race  as  well  as  in  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible,  the  need  of 
mankind  for  teaching,  for  saving  from  sin,  for  right  living,  the 
great  democracy  of  need  finds  in  Him  its  full  supply.  But  here 
in  the  culminating  as  in  all  the  stages  of  the  progressive  experience, 
the  teaching,  and  the  saving  are  for  the  purpose  of  the  right  liv- 
ing. He  is  prophet,  and  He  is  priest,  in  order  that  He  may  be 
King. 

Each  of  the  four  gospels  is  divided  Into  two  parts.  In  the  first 
part  we  have  Christ's  teaching  for  the  first  two  years  of  His  min- 
try,  it  is  about  the  kingdom,  its  establishment,  its  principles,  its 
practices.  This  part  culminates  with  the  confession  of  His  dis- 
ciples that  He  Is  the  Christ,  and  is  immediately  followed  by  His 
transfiguration,  in  which  He  showed  some  of  His  disciples  "the 
Son  of  man  coming  in  His  kingdom"  ;  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
touches  the  earth  and  the  mountain  top  shines  In  glory,  a  vision 
of  what  the  whole  earth  will  be  when  His  kingdom  is  every- 
where established. 

From  this  time  He  still  teaches  of  His  kingdom,  but  now  a  new 
and  startling  truth  Is  brought  before  the  bewildered  disciples  that 


UNIVERSAL  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  407 

He,  the  Christ,  the  King,  will  die  for  His  kingdom.  Christ's 
teaching  concerning  the  meaning  of  His  death  is  progressive. 
There  are  four  stages  of  the  unfolding  truth  until  the  whole 
meaning  is  clear.  In  each  stage  His  teaching  is  followed  by  the 
expression  of  the  bewilderment  of  His  disciples,  they  could  not  under- 
stand that  the  Son  of  God,  the  great  King  would  die.  The  first 
teaching  He  gives  is  that  He  will  die  for  a  cause.  They  are  to 
follow  Him.  This  is  a  common  experience.  His  death  was 
according  to  a  general  principle,  it  belonged  to  a  class  of  facts  in 
the  moral  world.  Multitudes  die  for  righteousness  sake.  The 
second  teaching  was  that  He  would  die  for  persons.  He  teaches 
the  value  of  a  soul.  He  is  a  shepherd  going  into  the  mountains  to 
seek  the  lost  sheep.  Death  not  for  a  cause  alone,  but  to  save  a 
person,  the  lost.  This,  too,  is  a  common  experience.  Many  a 
physician,  many  a  nurse,  many  a  mother  has  so  died.  The  third 
teaching  was  that  He  would  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many,  die 
in  a  real  sense  in  their  place,  death  vicarious.  This,  too,  is  a 
common  experience.  Not  only  spiritual  progress  is  advanced  by 
sacrifice,  but  political  as  well.  Many  martyrs,  many  soldiers  die 
in  the  place  of  others,  that  others  may  live  in  political  and  spiritual 
freedom.  The  fourth  teaching  was  that  He  would  die  as  a  sacrifice  for 
sin.  His  death  was  sacrificed.  His  body  broken.  His  blood  shed  for 
the  remission  of  sins.  In  this  meaning  the  others  culminate,  and  in 
this  He  died  alone,  the  lamb  of  God,  the  Savior  of  the  world.  In  all 
the  meanings  of  His  death  as  He  himself  teaches  us  it  was  that 
His  kingdom  might  be  established,  that  men  might  live,  live  His 
life,  feeding  upon  Him,  growing  like  Him,  that  He  might  be 
their  King.  He  is  prophet,  He  teaches,  He  is  priest,  He  dies,  that 
He  may  be  King,  may  rule  in  the  hearts  of  men,  may  be  King  of 
all  men.  His  Kingdom  is  for  all.  The  democracy  of  ignorance, 
of  sin,  of  conflict  is  met  by  the  King,  and  changed  into  the  king- 
dom of  righteousness,  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  into  the 
true  democracy,  all  equal  before  the  King,  equal  in  loyalty  to  the 
King  and  equal  as  brothers  in  His  kingdom. 

The  Kingdom  of  God  is  the  dominant  idea  of  the  whole  Bible. 
In  the  consciousness  of  the  society  of  the  Bible  it  was  largely 

«7 


4o8  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

political,  a  national  conception  of  the  dominion  of  power,  like 
other  world  empires.  The  teachings  of  the  prophets  added  to  this 
certain  essential  features  of  righteousness,  not  to  do  away  with 
the  world  dominion,  but  to  make  it  the  empire  of  righteousness. 
Each  prophet  had  his  special  message.  Amos  put  emphasis  upon 
the  justice  of  God,  Hosea  upon  his  mercy,  Micah  upon  his  for- 
giveness, Isaiah  upon  his  redemption,  Jeremiah  upon  his  claim  on 
the  individual,  Ezekiel  upon  his  regenerating  power,  Zephaniah 
upon  his  judging,  Joel  upon  his  punishing,  Habakkuk  upon  his 
rescuing,  Zechariah  upon  his  upbuilding,  as  did  Haggai  and  Mala- 
chi,  while  Nahum  and  Jonah  with  Obadiah,  speak  of  His  dealings 
with  other  nations,  and  Daniel  shows  forth  His  providence  in  the 
rise  and  fall  of  nations  and  the  increase  of  His  Kingdom.  In  all, 
spiritual  blessings  were  not  substituted  for  political  welfare,  but 
were  super-added,  were  made  the  soul  animating  the  body  politic. 
The  prophets  taught  of  an  ideal  world  of  obedience  to  God,  a 
kingdom  having  universal  blessings  both  material  and  spiritual. 
Then  Christ  came,  and  began  to  preach  "Repent  ye,  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand".  "I  am  come  not  to  destroy  the  law 
and  the  prophets  but  to  fulfill."  The  ideal  society  is  at  hand.  I 
am  come  to  make  actual  the  prophets'  vision  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

Christ  joined  with  His  preaching  of  the  Kingdom,  His  "heal- 
ing all  manner  of  diseases  and  all  manner  of  sickness  among  the 
people".  We  must  not  think  of  His  working  only  a  few  miracles 
of  healing,  those  recorded  are  only  a  few  specimens  of  the  many 
He  wrought.  His  was  a  general  mission  of  healing.  As  He  passed 
through  the  many  towns  and  cities  of  the  land  disease  fled  before 
Him  and  there  followed  Him  a  wave  of  general  health,  the  health 
of  the  kingdom.  Christ  insisted  on  the  spiritual  not  in  order  to 
be  alone,  or  to  be  independent  of  the  material,  riches  were  not  to 
be  despised  but  used,  and  the  material  was  to  be  the  servant,  the 
achievement  and  the  adornment  of  the  spiritual.  Christ  insisted 
on  the  spiritual  not  that  man  might  be  transferred  to  heaven  but 
that  He  might  live  well  on  the  earth,  that  He  might  subdue  the 
earth  and  replenish  it  as  at  the  beginning  He  was  commissioned 


UNIVERSAL  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  409 

to  do,  and  to  do  this  socially  for  the  good  of  all  mankind.  Man 
was  to  be  spiritual,  not  to  win  heaven  but  to  win  the  world. 
Christ  taught  the  reality  of  heaven,  the  certainty  and  richness  of 
its  blessedness,  but  heaven  by  itself  occupied  but  little  space  in  His 
teachings;  He  dealt  chiefly  with  life  in  this  world.  The  blessed- 
ness of  heaven  was  never  divorced  from  life  here,  or  made  a  dif- 
fernt  thing  from  life  here,  it  was  doing  the  will  of  God,  it  was 
being  of  the  family  of  God,  it  was  having  His  nature,  being  the 
brothers  and  sisters  of  Christ,  The  meek  were  to  inherit  the  earth, 
the  peace  makers  were  called  children  of  God,  the  disciples  were 
the  light  of  the  world.  When  we  pray  as  He  taught  us  "Thy 
Kingdom  come',,  it  is  the  heavenly  kingdom,  "Thy  will  be  done 
in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven".  The  kingdom  is  in  the  earth,  He  who 
does  God's  will  is  in  the  kingdom,  wherever  he  is.  God's  will, 
God's  law  obeyed  in  our  bodies,  then  there  will  be  no  more  sick- 
ness. God's  will,  God's  law  obeyed  in  our  treatment  of  the  earth 
and  of  each  other,  then  there  will  be  no  more  starvation — no 
more  poverty.  God's  will  obeyed,  this  is  the  kingdom,  the  paradise 
of  health  and  plenty  foretold  by  the  prophets.  The  kingdom  of 
God  is  the  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  love,  it  embraces  the 
home,  the  state,  the  economic  system,  the  industrial  life,  the  fel- 
lowship of  science,  letters  and  arts,  it  embraces  all  that  is  human 
and  all  humanity.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  the  society  of  men 
doing  His  will,  it  sheds  its  brightness  over  all  of  man's  life  whether 
on  earth  or  in  heaven.  It  is  the  sphere  of  heavenly  blessedness 
transfiguring  the  earth  with  its  glory,  driving  away  all  its  shadows 
and  misery,  as  the  mountain  gloom  was  driven  away  by  the  trans- 
figured Christ,  and  not  only  Moses  and  Elias,  but  the  mountain 
itself  and  those  who  had  wearily  climbed  it,  James  and  Peter  and 
John,  were  all  flooded  with  His  glory. 

Christ  was  not  visionary.  He  was  the  most  practical  of  men.  y^ 
He  had  an  end  in  view,  but  also  means  to  attain  it.  He  had  a 
far  oS  goal  but  also  successive  steps  in  the  way  to  reach  it.  He 
had  an  ultimate  aim,  but  also  mediate  and  immediate  aims.  He 
had  the  immediate  aim  of  the  conversion  of  the  individual,  the 
immediate  aim  of  a  new  man.     Individualism  rightly  understood 


410  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

is  the  basis  of  the  kingdom.  No  one  ever  had  a  higher  estimate 
of  the  worth  of  the  individual  than  had  Jesus  Christ.  Christ's 
teaching  of  the  worth  of  the  individual  makes  the  poorest  and  the 
meanest  man  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  the  brother  of  the  noblest 
and  the  richest,  since  they  are  alike  the  brothers  of  the  King.  But 
the  salvation  of  an  individual  does  not  consist  in  individualism  as 
generally  understood.  Sin  is  departure  from  man  as  well  as  from 
God.  Salvation  is  fellowship  with  man  as  well  as  with  God.  The 
union  of  the  soul  with  God  must  bring  that  soul  in  union  with 
man.  Man  may  try  to  isolate  himself,  if  he  succeeded  he  would  be 
no  longer  man.  Man  is  a  social  being.  Religion  is  a  matter  of 
social  relations,  social  relation  with  God,  social  relations  with  man. 
The  Ten  Commandments  are  sociological.  So  is  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.     So  is  the  Lord's  Prayer.     So  is  the  new  man. 

Christ  also  had  a  mediate  aim,  the  formation  of  the  church. 
The  new  man  was  associated  with  other  men  of  like  newness.  But 
here  also  the  social  nature  of  the  individual  was  enlisted  to  be 
fostered,  trained  and  used.  The  church  is  a  brotherhood,  is  to 
cultivate  fellowship,  there  is  equality  and  fraternity  in  her  life. 
Happy  would  it  be  if  this  was  so  carried  out  in  the  practice  of 
today  that  all  men  should  say  "How  these  Christians  love  one 
another",  that  there  would  be  no  need,  not  even  the  opportunity 
for  the  orders  and  lodges  based  upon  fraternity  and  helpfulness 
that  are  as  numerous  as  the  churches  in  all  our  cities.  The  high- 
est name  given  to  the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  the  bride  of 
Christ.  She  is  one  with  her  Lord,  and  is  to  carry  on  His  work 
here  on  the  earth.  This  is  her  mission,  fellowship,  the  ideal  fel- 
lowship within  herself,  and  service,  the  Christ  service  of  mankind. 
She  is  her  Lord  himself,  represents  him,  is  His  life  upon  the  earth. 
Her  life  is  to  show  His  life — to  do  His  work,  to  accomplish 
His  purpose  on  the  earth.  Her  ordinances  represent  her  as  having 
His  life,  and  show  forth  His  love.  Her  aim  must  be  His.  To 
save  souls  ?  Yes.  To  bring  souls  to  heaven  ?  By  all  means.  To 
build  up  herself  in  numbers  and  power?  Assuredly.  But  all  these 
are  included  and  for  the  express  purpose  of  establishing  the 
Kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  the  ideal  society  in  the  race  of  man- 


UNIVERSAL  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  411 

kind.  She  is  to  pray  constantly  "Thy  Kingdom  come.  Thy  will 
be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven".  And  she  is  to  live  and  labor 
for  that  for  which  she  prays.  She  is  not  the  ultimate  aim  of 
Christ.  She  is  not  an  end  in  herself,  she  is  not  the  far  ofi  goal,  but 
a  necessary  step  in  the  pathway,  a  necessary  and  important  means 
to  the  end,  a  mediate  aim  of  Christ. 

Christ's  ultimate  aim,  as  we  have  seen  is  the  Kingdom  of  God 
on  the  earth,  the  society  of  the  whole  race  living  in  righteousness 
and  love.  This  is  the  burden  of  His  teaching,  for  this  He  died, 
and  rose  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  on  high,  for  this  He  lives 
and  reigns,  and  this  alone  will  satisfy  His  soul.  The  two  terms 
characteristic  of  Christ's  teaching  were  the  Son  of  Man,  and  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven ;  His  parables  were  largely  about  the  King- 
dom and  the  King;  His  commission  to  His  church  was  to  make 
disciples  of  all  nations;  His  method  was  to  renew  individuals  by 
His  divine  indwelling;  His  goal  was  the  Kingdom;  His  imme- 
diate aim  was  the  individual;  His  mediate  aim  was  the  church; 
His  ultimate  aim  was  the  Kingdom.  The  Gospels  give  the  prin- 
ciples and  impulses  from  Christ  to  establish  His  Kingdom.  The 
Acts  and  Epistles  give  the  application  of  these  to  the  conditions 
of  society  then  existing.  The  church  in  successive  ages  is  to  apply 
them  to  the  changing  conditions  of  society  until  the  Kingdom  is 
established  in  the  whole  earth.  The  church  today  is  to  apply  them 
to  all  the  conditions  of  society  existing  today.  The  central  theme 
of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament  is  the  King  and  His 
Kingdom.  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  Bible 
culminating  in  Christ.  Christ  is  prophet  and  priest  that  He  may 
be  King.  The  Kingdom  of  Christ  is  the  heart  of  both  theology 
and  sociology.  The  individualism  of  Christ  is  the  social  man — the 
Christ-like  man;  this  secures  the  highest  social  well  being,  the 
Christ-like  society. 

The  duty  and  privilege  of  the  church  are  to  give  the  King- 
ship of  Christ  the  same  prominence  in  her  thought  and  life,  in  her 
purpose  and  work  that  the  Bible  gives  it,  and  in  His  name  to 
transform  society  everywhere  into  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
church  in  her  creed  building,  in  her  worship  forming  and  govern- 


412  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE   BIBLE 

ment  establishing  ages  has  not  always  held  closely  to  the  Bible 
standard  of  truth  and  ideals  of  life;  she  is  coming  now  in  her 
ministering  age  to  recognize  more  clearly  her  duty  and  privilege. 
There  have  been  few  books  written  upon  the  Kingship  of  Christ, 
until  in  recent  times  few  books  have  been  written  upon  the  King- 
dom. In  Shaft's  catalogue  of  theological  works  there  are  pages 
of  books  on  Christ  and  His  various  titles,  and  only  one  book  upon 
His  Kingship.  In  our  great  books  on  theology  there  are  very 
few  chapters,  and  these  few  are  often  minor  chapters,  upon  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  But  the  King  and  the  Kingdom  are  beginning 
to  assume  a  more  prominent  place  in  the  thought  of  the  Church 
and  of  the  world  today. 

No  single  nation  has  yet  been  made  entirely  Christian,  the 
church  in  her  action  has  not  succeeded  in  doing  this,  the  church 
in  her  history  has  not  shown  the  purpose  of  doing  this.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  Christian  civilization,  a  far  different  thing  from 
pagan  civilization,  but  there  never  yet  has  been  a  civilization 
entirely  Christian,  and  there  is  none  such  today.  There  is  not  a 
Christian  nation  that  professes  even  to  be  fully  guided  by  the 
teachings  of  Christ  either  in  its  relations  to  other  nations  or  in 
its  internal  laws  and  customs.  Heathen  nations  resent  the  approach 
of  Christian  nations,  for  while  some  Christians  bear  the  Book, 
others  bear  the  sword  and  the  scales,  largely  against  the  spirit  of 
the  Book,  while  some  bear  peace  and  good  will  others  bear  vice 
and  fraud  and  conflict,  and  the  heathen  find  the  exploiting  and 
destroying  element  as  strong  as  or  stronger  than  the  saving,  and  are 
confused  and  perplexed  as  to  what  is  real  Christianity.  Christian 
nations  in  their  manners  and  customs,  in  their  work  and  purpose 
are  governed  largely  by  self-interest  rather  than  by  social  interests ; 
and  members  of  the  church  are  not  clearly  distinguished  from 
others  in  this  regard.  The  church  itself  has  many  divisions  each 
governed  in  relation  to  the  others  by  self-interest  rather  than  by 
the  interest  of  all.  But  the  church  is  now  arousing  out  of  con- 
tentedness  with  such  conditions,  and  the  world  is  arousing,  too,  to 
call  upon  the  church  to  more  closely  follow  and  more  fully  repre- 
sent her  Lord.     The  church  is  beginning  to  recognize  more  fully 


UNIVERSAL  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  413 

her  glorious  mission  to  Christianize  herself  fully,  then  to  Chris- 
tianize Christian  nations  entirely,  and  then  and  thus  to  Chris- 
tianize the  world.  The  teachings  of  Christ  are  not  too  lofty  to  be 
put  in  practice,  and  the  putting  them  in  practice  is  the  only 
ground  of  commending  them  to  others.  The  living  the  Christ  life 
is  the  mission  of  the  church  in  each  community.  To  minister 
to  all  the  needs  of  the  community  is  the  true  representing  of 
Christ  to  that  community. 

The  church  thus  awakens  to  a  new  purpose,  to  a  new  preaching 
and  to  new  methods  of  action,  but  in  so  awakening  she  is  only 
grasping  at  last  Christ's  purpose,  and  preaching  and  methods. 

The  days  of  pulpit  eloquence  are  not  passed,  it  will  be  a  revival 
of  the  eloquence  of  prophet  and  apostle,  of  the  greatest  preacher 
of  all,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  will  be  the  presentation  of  the 
loftiest  truths  by  one  in  whom  those  truths  are  incarnated.  It 
will  be  the  preaching  of  righteousness  in  its  application  to  present 
day  needs.  The  prophets  denounced  sins  not  generically  but  spe- 
cifically, not  afar  off  but  near  by,  not  of  the  insignificant  but  of  the 
prominent,  the  leaders,  the  rich,  the  governors,  the  kings,  for  these 
lead  public  opinion.  Christ  exposed  corruption  of  the  rich,  the 
selfishness  of  the  rulers,  the  hypocrisy  of  the  Pharisees,  these  leaders 
of  public  opinion  were  exposed  and  denounced.  Paul  gave  an 
indictment  of  Roman  civilization  but  he  gave  it  to  the  Romans: 
it  has  a  sting  as  we  read  it  today,  even  when  applied  to  that  far 
off  time,  or  vaguely  to  human  nature ;  such  an  indictment  of 
New  York  civilization,  that  is,  one  equally  true  to  the  particular 
case,  given  in  a  New  York  pulpit  would  be  preaching  after  the 
spirit  and  manner  of  the  apostles.  Paul  was  equally  severe,  the 
severity  of  truth  and  righteousness  in  his  indictment  of  Jewish 
formality;  such  an  indictment  of  Christian  formality,  if  it  was 
equally  true  and  kind  would  be  sure  to  have  a  hearing,  would 
wake  up  the  average  congregation.  There  followed  in  the  great 
Epistle  a  full  setting  forth  of  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 
The  preacher  of  today  will  follow  the  spirit  of  the  great  Apostle 
to  the  Gentiles.  The  indictment  of  the  sinner  will  be  clear  cut, 
severe,  intensely  personal,  but  it  will  be  for  the  purpose  of  making 


414  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

him  a  new  man,  of  making  him  a  saint,  a  word  largely  gone  out 
of  use  today  there  is  so  little  demand  for  it,  and  when  used  mean- 
ing a  mystic;  but  with  Paul  meaning  a  new  man,  now  on  the 
earth  in  his  acknowledged  relation  both  toward  God  and  man. 
The  preacher  will  so  present  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  that  when 
accepted  by  faith  the  man  will  come  back  to  God  and  his  fellow- 
man,  to  give  his  entire  allegiance  to  the  King  who  died  for  him. 
There  followed  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  a  clear  presenta- 
tion of  the  social  duties  of  the  renewed  man.  The  indictment 
of  Roman  civilization  and  Jewish  formalism  was  to  lead  to  Christ, 
and  through  Christ  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth,  to  a 
Christian  spirit  and  a  Christian  social  life,  to  a  civilization  entirely 
Christian:  a  civilization  not  yet  reached  but  sure  to  come. 

The  preaching  of  social  righteousness  will  not  be  generic  but 
specific  if  it  follows  that  of  prophet  and  apostle,  neither  platitudes 
about  sin,  nor  platitudes  about  righteousness,  but  forceful  and 
direct  preaching  of  duty  to  God  and  man.  There  will  be  no 
opportunity  for  confusion  and  bewilderment  either  about  sin  or 
about  duty,  both  will  be  seen  to  be  largely  social.  There  are  in 
American  life  special  tendencies  which  need  to  be  checked  or 
reversed.  Other  tendencies  existed  in  Jewish  life  in  the  time  of 
the  kingdom,  others  in  the  time  of  Christ,  still  other  tendencies 
existed  in  Roman  and  Grecian  life:  the  prophets  and  apostles 
directed  their  preaching  to  the  tendencies  of  their  times:  the 
American  preacher  to  follow  their  example  will  direct  his  preach- 
ing to  the  tendency  of  American  times.  In  our  Republic  there  is  a 
tendency  to  political  corruption,  the  buying  of  votes  at  the  ballot 
box  or  in  the  legislative  halls,  the  buying  of  office  or  of  legislation. 
Think  you  the  prophets  or  apostles  or  Christ  Himself  would  wit- 
ness this  and  keep  silence,  would  think  of  the  dignity  of  the  pulpit 
and  speak  only  platitudes  of  righteousness?  There  is  a  tendency 
to  police  corruption  in  our  larger  cities  and  towns,  vice  and  crime 
buying  immunity  from  violated  law.  Would  Micah,  would  John, 
in  our  city  pulpits  keep  silence,  or  would  they  arouse  a  public 
opinion  that  would  sweep  such  corruption  to  destruction?  In  our 
business  life  there  is  a  tendency  to  corruption,  to  men  in  a  large 


UNIVERSAL  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  415 

corporation  losing  their  individual  conscience,  to  remorselessly 
crush  all  competition,  that  is  to  crush  into  poverty  or  death  their 
brother  men,  flesh  and  blood  competitors;  to  hire  labor  at  starva- 
tion prices ;  to  cheat  the  people  as  to  the  value  of  the  stock  of  their 
companies ;  and  to  charge  the  consumer  all  he  can  be  made  to  pay. 
Through  the  corporation  personality  seems  lost,  it  is  not  the  indi- 
vidual dealing  with  individual  according  to  individual  rights  and 
standards,  not  man  with  his  brother  man,  but  conscience  is  lost  in 
small  masses  of  men  dealing  with  large  masses.  The  remedy  is 
not  abolition  of  corporations,  not  only  regulation  of  corporations 
by  state  or  national  law,  but  such  clear  cut,  Christ  like  preaching 
that  men  leaving  their  pews  and  going  to  the  board  room  of  the 
corporation  will  take  their  consciences  with  them.  The  eloquence 
of  the  pulpit  today  will  vie  with  that  of  any  day  in  Bible  times 
when  it  treats  the  same  subjects  in  the  same  spirit,  when  it  preaches 
the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  Golden 
Rule  in  their  application  to  the  life  of  today. 

The  church  as  it  advances  in  her  ministering  age  has  not  only 
new  vigor  in  her  pulpit  but  in  her  organization  and  work  she  is 
adopting  new  methods  to  meet  the  present  day  needs.  Old  methods 
are  not  discarded  but  are  improved  and  new  methods  are  added. 
Her  worship,  her  solemn  feasts,  her  prayer  meetings,  her  schools 
are  maintained ;  they  have  the  rich  associations  coming  from  a  long 
and  noble  past.  In  all  her  methods  new  or  old  she  cultivates  the 
spirit  of  devotion,  the  loving  adoration  of  Grod.  She  fosters  the 
spirit  of  fellowship,  the  brotherly  love  of  those  regarding  Christ 
as  their  Savior,  and  looking  forward  to  living  with  Him  and  like 
Him  in  the  eternal  life  at  His  right  hand  in  Heaven ;  she  seeks  to 
win  converts  to  Him  and  to  His  service ;  and  to  make  her  influence 
felt  for  good  in  the  community  where  she  dwells. 

The  new  methods  of  work  have  been  evolved  from  the  growing 
purpose  of  the  church  to  establish  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  the 
whole  earth,  they  have  the  two  features  of  enlisting  the  member- 
ship of  the  church  in  righteous  living,  showing  to  the  world  the 
application  of  the  principles  of  Christ  to  the  snrial  life,  and  of  seiz- 
ing the  opportunity  of  reaching  out  to  put  forth  a  positive  influence 


4i6  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

in  checking  the  evils  in  society,  ministering  to  the  needs  of 
men  near-by  and  far  off  and  of  fostering  the  growth  of  the 
good  elements  in  the  social  life.  Within  the  last  century  grew  up 
the  great  foreign  missionary  organizations  of  the  church  which 
are  changing  far  off  lands.  The  organizations  to  minister  in 
Christian  lands  are  vast,  only  we  are  so  familiar  with  them  that 
we  do  not  estimate  them  at  their  real  worth.  The  Evangelical 
Alliance,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  the  Young 
People's  Organizations  of  various  names,  the  Boards  of  Domestic 
Missions,  the  Boards  of  Education,  these  are  but  a  few  organiza- 
tions; to  make  an  exhaustive  list  of  new  methods  or  new  organiza- 
tions would  take  up  many  pages.  The  Charities  Directory  of  the 
single  city  of  New  York  is  a  volume  of  over  six  hundred  pages, 
these  organizations  of  charities  have  grown  out  of  church  activities 
and  out  of  the  public  opinion  fostered  by  Christianity. 

Each  church  in  each  community  is  beginning  to  grasp  the  sub- 
lime purpose  of  doing  in  that  community  the  work  of  the  body  of 
Christ,  the  work  Christ  would  do  were  He  here  in  person  as  He  is 
here  by  His  representative,  the  work  of  helping  all  in  need,  physi- 
cal, mental  and  moral  as  well  as  religious  need.  The  church  has 
adopted  the  idea  of  the  state  of  giving  education  to  every  child 
in  the  state,  and  is  adopting  more  and  more  the  methods  of 
instruction,  so  that  her  instruction  in  religious  truths  shall  vie  in 
quality  with  the  education  the  state  gives  in  secular  truths. 
Churches  in  country  and  village  are  seeing  that  there  is  a  call  for 
ministering  to  all  classes  in  all  departments  of  life.  Churches  in 
towns  and  cities  are  becoming  more  and  more  institutional.  An 
institutional  church  in  New  York  City  strives  to  provide  for  the 
thousands  within  its  reach  everything  which  can  render  the  daily 
life  of  working  people  happy,  refined,  intellectually  cultivated  and 
sociable.  It  does  not  wait  for  the  people  to  attend  upon  the 
church  but  it  always  attends  upon  the  people.  There  are  classes 
and  clubs  of  all  kinds  from  cooking  to  dancing,  through  all  grades 
of  physical  and  mental  culture  to  spiritual,  and  for  men  as  well  as 
women.  A  single  rhurrh  in  that  city  has  over  two  thousand  people 
attending  daily  its  various  agencies  for  advancing  their  interests. 


UNIVERSAL  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  417 

The  many  college,  university  and  church  settlements  have  their 
few  paid  and  their  many  voluntary  workers  in  various  sections  of 
the  great  cities  directing  their  life  culture  and  influence  to  the 
uplifting  of  humanity. 

But  not  only  in  these  many  ways  but  by  her  life  and  influence 
the  church  is  seeking  the  causes  of  human  ills  and  is  trying  to 
remedy  them.  She  is  going  down  into  the  slums  with  her  gracious 
ministries  not  only,  but  she  is  beginning  to  see  that  her  life  and 
influence  should  do  away  with  the  slums,  should  so  mould  public 
opinion  and  direct  private  life  that  the  Golden  Rule  should  apply 
to  landlord  and  tenant,  to  employer  and  employee,  to  tradesman 
and  customer,  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  may  be  established  both 
on  the  East  Side  and  on  Fifth  Avenue,  in  all  parts  of  Christian 
lands  and  in  heathen  lands  also. 

Thus  Christ's  aims  are  being  adopted  more  fully  by  his  body, 
the  church.  She  has  her  immediate  aim  the  conversion  of  the  indi- 
vidual, a  conversion  from  a  self  centered,  isolated  life  to  a  Christ 
centered  life  becoming  social  and  brotherly,  and  she  draws  him 
into  her  felloweship  to  develop  that  loyalty  to  Christ  which  has 
Christ's  feeling  and  purpose  toward  mankind.  The  church  has 
Christ's  mediate  aim  also  now  growing  more  clear  and  controlling. 
She  is  to  be  a  brotherhood,  a  social  organization  in  which  the 
righteousness  toward  God  will  show  itself  in  righteousness  toward 
men.  She  is  to  exemplify  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  life  she  lives 
upon  the  earth,  she  is  to  culture  her  members  to  do  the  will  of 
God  on  earth  in  earthly  relations  and  affairs  before  they  pass  on  to 
do  the  will  of  God  in  heaven.  The  church  has  at  last  grasped 
Christ's  ultimate  aim,  to  turn  the  whole  society  of  mankind  into 
the  vast  and  Universal  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  She  has 
already  by  her  unconscious  and  unintentional  influence  established 
in  large  portions  of  the  earth  a  Christian  civilization.  She  now 
sees  that  her  great  mission  is  to  Christianize  the  world,  not  merely 
certain  portions  of  the  race  to  a  partial  Christianity,  but  the  whole 
race  to  a  complete  Kingdom  of  God.  When  she  grasps  this  ulti- 
mate aim  of  Christ  with  clear  understanding  and  full  determina- 
tion, when  this  becomes  her  one  purpose  of  life,  much  of  her  dor- 


4i8  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

mant  powers  will  be  aroused,  and  her  whole  conscious  and  inten- 
tional influence  as  well  as  her  unconscious  influence,  both  her 
shining  life  and  her  earnest  effort,  will  magnify  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ,  whose  right  it  is  to  reign,  and  will  render  the  highest  and 
best  possible  service  to  all  mankind. 

For  this  great  consummation  the  world  is  waiting.  When 
Christ  came  to  the  earth,  He  was  called  "the  desire  of  all  nations". 
It  is  as  true  today  "The  Kingdom  of  Christ  is  the  desire  of  all 
nations".  The  world  is  groaning  for  the  "Kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness, peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit".  The  world  is  longing 
for  brotherhood,  and  knows  not  how  to  attain  it.  Societies  are  no 
longer  isolated,  nations  and  races  know  of  each  other,  the  thought 
of  the  whole  race  is  being  grasped  by  each  portion  of  the  race,  the 
ideal  of  the  welfare  of  each  portion  is  beginning  to  embrace  the 
ideal  of  the  welfare  of  all  mankind.  The  world's  longing  for 
brotherhood  finds  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  alone  its  full  satisfac- 
tion, men  can  only  consciously  be  brothers  when  they  are  conscious 
of  being  the  children  of  God ;  filial  love  is  the  source  of  fraternal 
love.  The  Kingdom  of  God,  the  sociological  ideal  of  the  super- 
natural revelation  of  God,  the  particular  society  of  the  Bible  thus 
taking  possession  of  all  the  race  of  mankind,  is  thus  not  in  conflict 
with  nature,  but  only  adds  to  nature  a  needed  force.  There  is 
evolution  in  society  as  in  all  nature,  it  is  not  materialistic  but 
Christian  evolution ;  there  is  not  only  the  plan  running  through  all 
nature  but  the  great  author  of  the  plan  and  the  director  of  it, 
there  is  the  transcendant  God  and  He  also  is  the  immanent  God, 
becoming  more  immanent  as  there  is  need  in  the  unfolding  of  the 
great  plan.  In  the  ceaseless  and  inevitable  progress  of  evolution 
there  at  length  comes  forth  the  element  of  living  for  others,  it  is 
seen  most  clearly  in  mammalian  life,  nature  puts  the  premium  of 
highest  and  richest  existence  upon  love  of  others.  When  man  is 
reached  he  is  an  intelligent  being  possessed  of  free  will,  he  may 
see  this  great  principle  in  nature  and  may  choose  it  as  the  controll- 
ing principle  of  his  life.  The  supernatural  revelation  of  God 
shows  that  this  supreme  element  in  man's  life  is  from  God  Him- 


UNIVERSAL  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  419 

self,  is  the  likeness  to  God,  and  that  He  is  revealed  to  awaken  in 
man  this  spirit  of  living  for  others. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the  ideal  man,  the  supreme  revelation 
of  God,  fully  grasped  this  principle  of  life.  He  lived.  He  died 
for  others.  Now  He  lives  and  reigns  giving  to  all  His  loyal  sub- 
jects His  principle  of  living,  being  the  source  of  their  life,  the 
living  for  others,  for  God  in  loyal  trust  and  loving  obedience,  for 
mankind  in  loving  service.  Man  following  a  lower  element  in 
evolution,  that  of  the  struggle  for  self,  degraded  his  intelligence 
and  dulled  it,  misused  his  will  and  corrupted  it,  and  departing 
from  God  and  his  likeness  to  Him,  parted  also  from  his  fellow 
man.  From  this  there  has  come  upon  man  in  his  social  nature 
much  conflict  and  great  wretchedness.  The  groaning  of  the  world 
in  its  self-seeking  and  the  longing  of  the  world  for  brotherhood 
both  show  the  cry  of  mankind  for  God ;  and  the  Kingdom  of  God 
is  the  gracious  and  forgiving  response  of  the  Heavenly  Father. 

This  then  is  the  condition  awaiting  society  as  foretold  by  both 
nature  and  revelation,  the  Kingdom  of  God  established  in  all  lands 
and  climes,  and  for  all  time  while  the  earth  remains  a  fit  dwelling 
place  for  mankind  even  to  a  thousand  generations.  The  prophets 
of  the  Old  Testament  vie  with  each  other  in  describing  the  fruit- 
fulness  and  peacefulness  of  the  earth  when  righteousness  shall 
hold  sway.  The  apostle  sees  the  perfect  city  of  God  coming  down 
from  heaven  to  the  earth.  Various  national  and  race  traits  and 
organizations  will  be  maintained,  the  Orient  and  the  Occident,  the 
tropic  and  the  temperate  zones,  the  islands  and  the  continents,  the 
mountains  and  the  plains  will  still  have  their  various  kinds  of  men, 
but  they  will  vie  not  in  conflict  and  strife  but  in  ministering  to 
each  portion's  welfare.  Peculiarities  among  races  will  be  like 
peculiarities  in  families  not  foes  to  but  friends  and  promoters  of 
true  brotherhood.  Each  nation  will  be  Christian  after  its  own 
peculiar  characteristics,  and  will  be  entirely  Christian.  All  nations 
will  be  Christian  in  the  treatment  of  each  other,  and  entirely  Chris- 
tian. The  day  is  coming  when  the  Kingdom  of  God  will  sway  the 
whole  earth,  and  all  men  will  dwell  together  as  brothers  of  the 
King. 


INDEX. 

Page. 

Abraham    124,  I37 

Adam  and  Eve 61,  135,  152 

Adam,  nature  of  the  fall  of 63 

Adultery   and    fornication,    laws,    public   opinion 161 

America,  future  of — from  its  position I77 

Antiquity  of  man  on  earth 68 

Apostles,  preaching  by,  on  business 231,  239 

Aristocracy,  God  given  and  man  made 92 

Arts   in    Hebrew    life 251 

Aryan   race    loi,  391 

Barbarian,  our  ancestors Zl^ 

Bible,  God  made  order  in  the 403 

Bible,  many  versions  of 39i 

Bible,  religion  sociological    35 

Birth    rates,    various 164 

Brain  and  body  in  man  and  animals T2. 

Brotherhood  of   man   from  Fatherhood  of  God 57 

Brotherhood  enriched  by  variety  in  race 102 

Brotherhood  need  and  longing  of  the  world  for 418 

Budde's  view  of  the  Bible Z7 

Business  principles    of    the    Bible 236 

Business,  Golden  Rule  in 240 

Cheyne's  view  of  the  Bible 42 

Children's    courts,   modern ZZl 

Children  in  the  Roman  world 370 

Children  in  healthy  marriage    75,  159 

Chivalry,  the  Institution  of 378 

Christ,  the   Ideal   Man 35^ 

Christ,  the  Light  of  the  World 384 

Christ,  immediate,  mediate  and  ultimate  aim  of 55,  409 

Christ's  teaching  of  His  own  death 407 

Christ's  teaching  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 314,  384,  406 


422  THE  SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Page. 

Christ's  teaching  of  penology    and   pathology 334 

Christ's  teaching  of  sociology    55,  403 

Christ's  teaching  on  wealth    254 

Christ  Prophet  and  Priest  that  He  may  be  King 406 

Christianity  defined   364 

Christianity,  changes  in  society  wrought  by 363 

Christianity,  advance  of,  measured  by  the  centuries 391 

Church,  a   social   force 54,  397 

Church,  different  ages  and  development  of 52 

Church,  ministering  age  of    53 

Church,  commimity  of  goods  in  the  early 259 

Church,  immediate,  mediate  and  ultimate   aim  of 411 

Church,  new  kind  of  preaching  of 413 

Church,  new    methods    of 4^5 

Church,  organizations  in  foreign  missions 388 

Cities  of   Palestine 213,  228 

City  growth  in  modern  times 198 

Circumcision    138 

Civilization   generally   of   demotic   races 105 

Civilization  of  the  masses 252 

Civilization,  Christian     364 

Civilization  of  the  future 397 

Civilization  of  the  world  to  be  wholly  Christian 405 

Combination  in  industry    225 

Combination  of  labor  and  capital  in  modern  enterprises 262 

Corporations  and  fraternity   265 

Corporations,  checks  upon  wrong  action 267 

Competition  in  evolution  modified  by  reason  and  love 24 

Co-operative    movement,   the 273 

Conquest  of  Canaan 185 

Conception  of  God,  the  Hebrew 38 

Continents   of  old  and  new  worlds 177 

Covetousness  in  business 274 

Creation,   Bible   account   of 59 

Crime,  causes  and  treatment  of 327 

Culture  and    refinement   in    Hebrew   life 251 

Culture  of  righteousness  for  the  masses 280 

Culture,  Hebrew,  for  all  classes  and  both  sexes 293 

Culture  and    social   consciousness 279 

Day's  view  of  the  Bible 37 

Deterioration  in  early  society 84 


INDEX  423 

Page. 

Development    of    man,    means    of 79 

Dispersion   of   mankind 99 

Diseases   of  society,  causes   of 320 

Distinguished,  The  production  of  the 9^ 

Divorce,  ancient  and  modern 169 

Driver's  view  of  the  Bible 37 

Education,  Hebrew,  and  the  United  States  systems 283 

Election  of  God  as  King 306 

Elective  officers    ' 302 

Elements  in  man 62 

Endowment  of  man,  the  original 70 

Environment,  man's  power  to  change 64 

Environment  works    changes    in   the    race 102 

Environment,  physical,  esthetic,  social I75 

Environment,  good,  bad,  changed 187 

Equality    before    the    law 310 

Evolution,  Herbert  Spencer's  description  of 14 

Evolution,  Theistic  and  Christian 17.    44 

Evolution  in   life    19 

Evolution  of  man  and  society 22,    70 

Evolution  in  the  Bible I53 

Evolution  in  the  Kingdom  of  God 25,  418 

Family,  many    kinds    of   marriage 78 

Family,  marriage  and  children 159 

Family  for  development  of  human  nature 160 

Farming,  the  basis  of  industry 224 

Farming,  Villages  in   Palestine 213 

Fire,  man's  discovery  and  use  of 80 

Flood,  the  causes  of  the 86,  153 

Foreign  Missions,  Sociological  at  home  and  abroad 388 

Fraternalism  fostered   249 

Fraternalism  and  United  States 318 

Gambling    342 

Genesis,  the  ist  chapter  of,  and  science 59 

Geography,  Lessons  of  Physical 178 

God,  the  affectionate  Father  of  the  race 62 

Golden  Rule,  Preaching  on,  in  the  conduct  of  business 240 

Government  of  and  from  the  family 298 

Government  for  the  welfare  of  the  governed 301 


424  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Page. 

Government  for  the  common  good 318 

Government,  Tribal,  extent  of  Hebrew 312 

Graf-Wellhausen,  theory  of  the  Bible 47 

Greed  versus  love  of  humanity  in  business 271 

Hammurabi,  code  of 201 

Happiness,  the  aim  in  the  evolution  of  life ig 

Harlotry,   ancient  and  modern    168,  339 

Health,  social    352 

Heredity    ■ 129 

Heredity  of  acquired  characteristics 131 

Heredity  of  the  kings  of  Judeah  and  Israel 144 

Heredity  of  the  covenant  of  grace 137 

Heredity  of  the  spiritual  nature 148 

Hereditary  offices    304 

Hilquit,  Morris,  description  of  socialism g 

Higher  criticism  described  by  its  advocates 2>7 

Historical  investigation,  scientific 45 

House  and  home,  value  of  to  society 171,  282 

Hope,  The,  of  Israel 357 

Individualism,    Limit    of 247 

Industry  in  primitive  society 82 

Industry,  Principles  of.  Complex 225 

Industry,  small   estates   encourage 206 

Infancy,  prolonged  in  man 76 

Intemperance 341 

Intellectual   development 380 

Jewish  race  today 147^  245 

Justice,   Administration   of 330 

King,  the,  was  under  the  law 311 

Kingdom  of    God  in  poetry  and  oratory 358 

Kingdom  of  God,  dominant  in  the  Bible 407 

Kingdom  of  God,  need  and  longing  of  the  world  for 418 

Kingdom  of  God,  Christ's  teaching  of 314,  384,  406 

Labor,   Three   Elements   in   Hiring 230 

Labor   Unions  and   fraternity 267 

Land,  the  physical  basis  of  society 67 

Land,  distribution  among  the  people  in  the  world 194 


INDEX  425 

Page. 

Land,  division  by  lot 203 

Land,  owners  frequently  a  favored  class 196 

Land,  rest  for  the 215 

Land,  small  estates,  inheritance,  alienation 206 

Land  of  Palestine  supported  large  population 212 

Language,  origin  of  man's  power  of 62 

Language,  variations  of  100 

Language,  rise  of  written loi 

Laws,  Origin  of  the,  of  Moses 202 

Leaders  of  men,  Incentive  of,  rewards  of 247 

Liberty,    Individual — and   stability   of    society 303 

Life,  maximum  in  quality  and  quantity  of  human 102,  348,  418 

Life,  shortening  and  lengthening  of  human 1 12 

Life,  value  placed  on  human 329 

Literature  and  social  consciousness 31.  353 

Literature  of  and  for  the  masses 291 

Lot,  division  of  land  by 203 

Love,  a  strong  element  in  evolution 21 

Love,  Law  of,  in  business 237 

Mackaye,  James,  on  socialism 1 1 

Man,  distinguishing  elements  in 62 

Marriage  of  the  sons  of  God  and  the  daughters  of  men 85 

Marriage  for  the  production  and  care  of  children 159 

Marriage  in  modern  life   163 

Marriage,  different   kinds    of 78 

Marriageable    age    ^^ 

Masses,   culture   of   the 280 

Miracles,   Grounds  of  belief   in 49 

Migration   of  nations 103 

Missions,  Sociology  of  foreign 382 

Monogamy,  fostered  by  nature 75 

Monogamy,  complete    family  life 160 

Monopoly,   ancient  and  modern 275 

Morals  of  the  Exodus  and  the  Conquest  of  Canaan 50 

Music,  Culture  by   284 

Nation,  genetic  and  demotic 104 

Needs  and  wants  of  man 225 

Negro  race  109 

Nile,    civilization   of 181 


426  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Page. 

Office  holder,  kind  of  man  required 302 

Oratory,  Influence  of 286 

Oratory  of  righteousness  339 

Orations   of   Moses 308 

Order  in  camp  and  march 307 

Order  in  nature  and  Bible,  God  made 403 

Organization  of  society 114 

Paganism   366,  376 

Palestine,  Land  of 213 

Palestine,  the  third  home  of  the  Hebrews 182 

Parasites   on   society 344 

Paternalism  discouraged    249 

Pathology    320 

Penal  reform,  modern 335 

Penalties  for  crime 328 

Philosophy  of  history 50 

Physical  basis  of  society 67 

Polygamy    155 

Poor  favored  by  land  laws 217 

Poverty,  Two  sources  of 229,  321 

Poverty  in  the  United  States 262 

Poverty,  extent    in    Christian    lands 346 

Poverty  in  the  Roman  world 368 

Poverty,  care   of    348 

Poetry  of  righteousness 358 

Prentice,  Sartell,  on  influence  of  the  church 318 

Prisons  and  jails  in  the  United  States 328 

Primary    classes    in    society 88 

Privilege  classes   310 

Preaching   of   social    duties 54 

Profit  sharing   272 

Prophets  preaching  on   sociology    54 

Prophets  preaching  on  business    231 

Psychology  of  the  religious  nature 150 

Pulpit  eloquence  of  the  future 413 

Prosperity,  material  and  social  causes   of 348 

Punishment  of  crime 331 

Race  movements    103 

Refuge,  cities  of  333 

Religion  an  agency  in  culture  of  the  masses 294 


INDEX  427 

Page. 

Religion,  Bible,  is  sociological 35 

Religious  nature  of  the  child 150 

Rest  days  and  years 235 

Revelation  of  God  progressive  in  the  Bible 294 

Righteousness  characteristic  of  the  Hebrews 280,  316 

Righteousness,  the  ideal  of  social  health 358 

Roman  cvilization    366 

Sanitary  rules  and  regulations 344 

Service,  the  life  of 402 

Sexes,  the  relation  of  the 74 

Sexual  impurity   339 

Schools  in  ancient  and  modern  times 283,  292 

Slavery,  Hebrew  policy  to  check  and  banish 231 

Slavery  and  civilization  265 

Slavery  in  the  Roman  world 234,  369 

Smith,  Adam  255 

Social  consciousness  moulds  future  society 279,  404 

Socialism  described  by  its  advocates 9 

Socialism,  spread  of   12 

Social   consciousness   in   literature 31 

Society  of  the   Bible,   Distinctive   feature 31 

Society,  like  an  organism 114 

Society,  Salvation  of   384,  392 

Socially  inactive,  the 343 

Sociology,  Science   of    7,  401 

Sociology,  discriptive,  static  and  dynamic 27,  353 

Sociology  of  the  Bible,  what  it  includes ;i2 

Soul  the  whole  life  of  man 399 

Soul,  salvation  of  a  single 382 

Spencer,  Herbert   14 

Spargo,  John  9 

Strikes,  History  of.  Need  of 268 

Sympathy,  or  likemindedness,  the  soul  of  society 122 

Synagogue,  History  and  influence  of 289 

Taxation  of  the  land  by  tithes 219 

Ten  Commandments  and  heredity  140 

Ten  Commandments,  summary   of,    for   business 237 

Ten  Commandments,  God's  ideal  of  social  health 355 

Tithe,  the    127,  219 

Tribal  government,  extent  of 312 


428  THE   SOCIOLOGY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Page. 

Tools,  man  the  only  being  making,  development  of 8i 

Tools,  owners  and  workers,  diflferent  classes 83,  263 

United  States,  genetic   and   demotic 105 

United  States'  position  on  the  earth 178 

United  States,  distribution  of  land  in 196 

United  States,  distribution  of  wealth   261 

United  States  government  and   fraternalism 318 

United  States,  crime  in   328 

Varieties  of  race  from  Environment 102 

Vitality,  high  and  low 89 

Wages  rise  in  modern  times 271 

Wages,  Christ's  and  Adam  Smith's  conflicting  views 255 

Wants  of  man,  cultivation  of  the 225 

War,  Hebrew  policy  against  324 

War  spirit  in  modern  times 326 

War  in  the  Roman  world 367 

Wealth  in  Hebrew  estimation  126 

Wealth,  social  effort  the  source  of 245 

Wealth,  four  elements  in  its  wide  distribution 246 

Wealth,  Christ's  teachings  about 254 

Wealth  in  modern  times  and  in  the  United  States 260 

Woman  in  Hebrew  estimation   126,  293 

Woman  in  the  Roman  world 369 

World  longing  for  the  Kingdom  of  God 418 

Worship,  effect  of,  on  social  character 294 


< 


I 


Date  Due 

Wh-  J,  4  4_q 

*-— -^ 

JAM  1  0  )S 

14 

(f 

